I genuinely never expected to return to Nocturnal Culture Night. I had visited Deutzen once, in 2023, and already then the sheer scale of the festival impressed me: several stages operating simultaneously, a programme dense enough to render any attempt at complete coverage slightly absurd, and an audience whose warmth remained one of my clearest memories afterwards. Three years later I found myself there again, towards the end of another long summer spent moving between festivals. For me, NCN effectively closes the outdoor festival season, although “closing” seems an inadequate word for an event that still requires its visitors to make decisions at the speed of something in full acceleration.

What is peculiar about NCN is that its physical scale and its social scale seem almost unrelated. The Kulturpark contains several music stages, spaces of very different dimensions and enough simultaneous programming to construct several entirely different versions of the same weekend, yet the atmosphere remains remarkably relaxed. That contrast was already one of the things I remembered from 2023, and this year it became even more apparent.

I have written many times that every festival develops its own social language, but the differences become particularly visible when several are visited within the same summer. At Wave-Gotik-Treffen or Castle Party, clothing itself becomes part of the artistic vocabulary: people construct silhouettes, visual references and sometimes entire characters, so that the audience forms a parallel exhibition of creativity. NCN feels different. This is neither criticism nor a claim that one form of participation is more authentic than another, but attention in Deutzen seemed to travel outwards rather than towards the self. People were there to hear music, catch up with friends, eat and drink together, dance, talk, discover bands and conduct the sort of informal networking that has always existed in music scenes whether anyone calls it networking or not.

For me, as a photographer, that difference became unexpectedly important. An extraordinary outfit already supplies the architecture of an image: colour, line, texture and shape can make a photograph visually compelling before any meaningful contact with the person has occurred. At NCN I found myself looking much more closely at faces. Personality appeared in concentration during a song, amusement between friends, exhaustion, affection, curiosity or the sudden transformation of expression when somebody recognised the opening seconds of something they loved. The portraits demanded slightly more patience because there was less external spectacle to depend upon; I had to wait for something of the actual person to become visible. That made photographing the audience harder, but ultimately more rewarding. People seemed wonderfully unpretentious and considerably more interested in what was happening around them than in attracting attention towards themselves.

Friday

My festival began with HORSKH, and there was never much uncertainty about that choice. I had first seen the French trio after they had been recommended to me for Castle Party, so by NCN they had already become one of those fixed points around which I constructed the rest of a schedule. Their combination of industrial electronics, guitars, live percussion and vocals works because aggression is never treated as an end in itself. The music is extremely disciplined underneath its apparent violence: sequences are exact, rhythmic structures are engineered with considerable care, and then everything performed above them seems determined to interfere with that control.

Onstage, this becomes intensely physical. The guitars do not merely thicken the electronic foundation but push against it, while the vocals repeatedly introduce a kind of organised instability that makes the songs feel much less obedient than their underlying structures actually are. Their interpretation of The Prodigy’s “Breathe” remains a particularly clever choice because it exposes a lineage instead of functioning merely as a familiar cover. The Prodigy understood that electronic music could possess the confrontation and bodily violence of rock without ceasing to be electronic; HORSKH take that principle into a harsher contemporary vocabulary. After almost six hours on a bus to Leipzig, I could hardly have asked for a more efficient recalibration of the nervous system.

I then moved to the much smaller Kulturbühne for frequen-C & TC75, the collaboration between Christian Bergmann and Tino Claus. I have followed and supported this project for some time, and what continues to interest me is how much room exists inside electronics that can nevertheless hit very hard. Christian’s structures are disciplined and precise, while Tino’s vocal presence brings a completely different temperature into them; the result combines electronic control with a performer who is visibly communicating rather than merely executing a vocal part.

The visual component worked beautifully without competing with the music, and the small Kulturbühne gradually turned into a very efficient dance floor. Something that happened away from the stage later gave me another way of thinking about what I had just watched. Tino participates in what sometimes seems like an improbable number of musical projects, so I asked him how many he would actually count as his own if we excluded occasional guest appearances. We eventually arrived at roughly five. I then asked whether he was ever afraid that dividing himself between so many different contexts might dilute his artistic identity.

He came back to the question the following day and said no, because every project is different. It sounds simple, but the answer stayed with me because creative identity does not necessarily become more concentrated by being restricted to one context. It can become more exact through contrast, as long as each collaboration develops its own internal logic rather than becoming another receptacle for identical habits. frequen-C & TC75 have exactly that distinct emotional temperature, hard without being merely aggressive, controlled without becoming emotionally sealed, and sufficiently communicative that the question of dilution becomes rather irrelevant once they are actually playing.

The schedule then forced a split between Hinfort and Jesus On Extasy. Hinfort shifted the afternoon away from HORSKH’s physical aggression towards something considerably more inward. Florian Kerezovic’s relatively young Cologne project works with the familiar materials of post-punk and darkwave, cold bass, restrained electronics, melancholy and a low vocal register, but onstage the important element was not genre recognition so much as composure. There was no attempt to force an early festival audience into attention through exaggerated movement or artificial drama. Instead, the songs established their own pressure gradually, the bass carrying much of the forward movement while the vocals remained darker and more introspective above it.

What interested me was the contrast between that emotional reserve and the clarity of the performance. Hinfort did not sound tentative despite the project’s relatively short history; the musical language already felt remarkably defined, yet not so finished that it had lost the possibility of development. There was something attractive in watching a project still consolidating itself publicly, where the identity was already recognisable but did not yet feel hardened into a formula.

I saw only part of Jesus On Extasy, but even that fragment was difficult to mistake for anybody else. The performance was loud, restless and happily excessive, driven by the friction between hard guitars and electronics rather than by an attempt to make one disappear inside the other. There was a genuine sense of emotional disorder onstage, not because the music lacked discipline, but because the musicians seemed continually willing to push the songs beyond the neat boundaries suggested by their structures.

The result was extremely energetic and at moments almost chaotic in appearance, with movement, guitar force and vocal intensity creating a show that felt much less controlled than most of the electronic performances around it. That theatrical excess is part of the appeal: Jesus On Extasy do not seem particularly interested in the cool distance associated with much dark electronics. What I caught was hot-blooded, physical and deliberately larger than life.

With Melotron, the energy took a completely different form. I only stayed for part of the performance, but the audience reaction was immediate, and it was easy to understand why. There is an enormous difference between a band merely possessing a long catalogue and one knowing how those songs now function in relation to an audience that has lived with them for years. Melotron have that knowledge.

Andy Krüger’s presence was particularly effective because he never appeared to be fighting the scale of the Amphibühne. The performance did not need exaggerated movement to seem substantial; voice, melody and recognition were already doing the work. What I remember most is the collective response, people singing, moving and reacting to songs whose emotional vocabulary is deeply familiar by now. It was energetic without becoming frantic and confident without slipping into routine, the sort of festival performance where experience becomes visible not as professionalism for its own sake but as an unusually precise understanding of how to hold a large audience.

Friday ended unusually early for me. I had been awake since 04:30, spent nearly six hours travelling by FlixBus and gone almost immediately into festival work, so eventually my carefully constructed running order collided with basic physiology. I badly wanted to see Sierra Veins later that night, but the body vetoed the plan. Later I learned that heavy rain had complicated proceedings and produced delays, which made going back to rest easier to justify retrospectively, although not less disappointing. Festival timetables encourage the fantasy that the body is simply another logistical factor; sooner or later it tends to remind us that it possesses final authority.

Saturday

Saturday began before noon, with Rina Pavar providing one of the most elegant openings I encountered during the weekend. Associated with the Cold Transmission orbit, her music works within coldwave and dark electronics, but reducing it to either category misses the quality that matters most in performance: the relationship between an orderly electronic framework and a voice that is allowed to remain unmistakably human within it.

There is fragility in her delivery, but fragility should not be confused with weakness. Pavar does not treat uncertainty or restraint as shortcomings to be compensated for through greater volume; she lets them remain audible while the electronics underneath give those qualities direction and form. On Parkbühne the effect was extraordinarily elegant. The songs retained something private even while being projected into an outdoor festival, which takes far more confidence than simply making everything larger. The beauty came from proportion: voice, synths and movement all seemed to understand exactly how much space they required.

I also managed a short look at TonFehler, and the contrast was considerable. Their electronic body music is deliberately direct, but what makes the project more interesting than another exercise in hard beats is the presence of irony and social observation. The structures move efficiently, while the German-language vocal delivery allows humour and criticism to coexist without turning either into cabaret commentary placed outside the music.

Their performance immediately introduced a certain mischievousness into the day. The beats remained forceful enough to carry the set, but the interaction between the performers prevented the music from becoming another exercise in stern electronic discipline. Rather than standing rigidly inside the machinery, TonFehler seemed willing to acknowledge its absurdities, which gave the short part I witnessed a personality disproportionate to the amount of time I actually spent there.

Ambassador21 increased the physical temperature dramatically. Natasha A Twentyone and Alexey Protasov have spent more than two decades combining industrial electronics, rhythmic noise and punk hostility into something designed less to seduce than to confront. What can initially sound chaotic is in fact highly organised: repetition, compressed rhythm and the vocal interaction create a structure whose aggression is far more deliberate than its surface suggests.

Even during a relatively short encounter, the punk element remained unmistakable, not because of costume or borrowed iconography but because of the project’s fundamental refusal of politeness. Natasha’s delivery in particular attacks the tracks as much as it inhabits them, while Alexey supplies another point of pressure. The vocals are not placed elegantly above the electronics; they strike into them. The performance felt angry, but not vaguely so. There was purpose behind the aggression and sufficient control underneath it to prevent intensity from becoming noise without direction.

Another direct clash followed between Ozibut and Strikkland. I saw Ozibut only briefly, but this was one of those encounters where a few minutes were sufficient to establish that something unusual was happening. Musically, darkdance, synthpunk, EBM and cold electronic structures collided with an almost cabaret-like instinct for exaggeration, while visually the project was immediately distinctive.

What caught my eye was that the appearance did not seem designed merely to make a memorable photograph. The eccentricity belonged to the performance itself: expression, movement and styling all appeared to share the same slightly grotesque, humorous and decadent logic as the music. In full daylight, where many dark electronic projects lose part of their visual vocabulary, Ozibut remained strangely convincing because the personality did not depend on darkness to exist. I left far too quickly to write about the set as a whole, but not too quickly to know that I want a proper encounter next time.

I left because Strikkland were one of my priorities, and the larger Waldbühne revealed something I had already enjoyed about them on a smaller stage but perhaps had not fully appreciated: humour is not an accessory to the Swedish duo but one of the methods through which they understand EBM itself. Their music is genuinely hard-hitting, full of muscular sequences, direct rhythmic structures and Henrik Johansson’s forceful vocal delivery, but they refuse the peculiar genre assumption that musical seriousness requires permanent solemnity.

Henrik changed clothes, appeared in extravagant red fur, exaggerated poses, altered lines, used provocative gestures and played with Swedish and German symbolism and declarations of friendship between the two countries. In less capable hands this could easily have reduced the concert to parody. Instead, it worked because the music underneath was far too good to need irony as an excuse. They were not laughing at EBM from a safe distance; they were playing with conventions they clearly understand and love.

Afterwards Henrik told me that when he and Henric Ceder started the band, already approaching their fifties, they had briefly imagined becoming the “gothiest” band possible before looking at one another and essentially asking whom they thought they were fooling. That decision to interfere with the convention rather than impersonate it seems fundamental to Strikkland. The joke works because there is affection underneath it. Full afternoon sun is rarely generous to music associated with smoke, darkness and club lighting, yet here it almost improved the performance by exposing the absurdity more clearly. Self-awareness is considerably harder to perform convincingly than genre seriousness, and Strikkland manage to combine both.

AD:Key then took over the Amphibühne, and Andrea and René Nowotny delivered exactly the kind of controlled explosion I had hoped for. Their music has always depended on more than alternating female and male vocals; what gives the project its personality is the constant redistribution of energy between two people who know one another intimately enough to respond without making that response look rehearsed.

On a stage as large as the Amphibühne, this became particularly effective. Large spaces can expose electronic acts whose stage vocabulary consists merely of enlarging familiar gestures, whereas Andrea and René filled the space through actual communication. Andrea’s performance became increasingly animated until she moved into the audience, while René remained above onstage, and the physical separation paradoxically strengthened their interplay. Suddenly the crowd itself occupied the space between them. The rhythms remained rigid enough to provide the EBM architecture, but the human exchange continually disrupted any possibility of mechanical impersonality. It was an enormous, joyful release of energy and one of my strongest concerts of the weekend.

I then divided my attention between The Awakening and SIIE. I only caught part of The Awakening, but what stayed with me were the guitars: living, breathing guitars in the most literal musical sense, with sustain and space allowed to become part of the emotional information rather than simply supplying rock weight. Ashton Nyte’s long-running project has moved through gothic rock and darkwave for decades, yet the fragment I saw felt less concerned with genre than with atmosphere produced organically through musicianship.

Nyte’s voice gave those guitars a poetic quality, and for a few minutes the whole festival seemed to breathe differently after so much sequenced electronic precision. The guitars possessed weight, certainly, but also air around them, allowing the songs to remain expansive rather than merely loud. I would not pretend to reconstruct the complete concert from the portion I witnessed, but those minutes were enough to make the contrast with the surrounding programme especially valuable.

SIIE offered almost the reverse kind of tension to The Awakening. Their electronic language brings darkwave, EBM and techno into contact with French-language vocals, but what made the short part I saw particularly memorable was the way the visual identity altered the emotional reading of the music. The mask immediately creates distance: instead of presenting the performer as a conventional frontperson whose face supplies the obvious emotional access point, SIIE partially remove that route and force attention back towards gesture, voice, movement and sound. The result is strangely intimate despite the concealment. The mask does not make the performance colder; paradoxically, it makes the listener search more carefully for expression elsewhere.

And the music itself was genuinely beautiful. Beneath the direct, physical pulse there is a remarkable melodic sensitivity, with electronics that can feel severe one moment and unexpectedly delicate the next. The French vocal delivery adds another layer of elegance and slight detachment, while the beat keeps everything anchored in the body. What I liked most was the contradiction between concealment and emotional accessibility: visually, SIIE create distance, yet musically they invite the listener much closer. Even during the short fragment I caught, the performance felt carefully conceived as a whole rather than as music with an aesthetic added around it, with mask, movement, voice and electronics all contributing to the same beautifully controlled atmosphere.

Schöngeist brought another kind of theatricality to the Amphibühne. Their dark-rock vocabulary allows broad guitars and emphatic rhythms to coexist with more melodic and almost cinematic elements, and the large stage suited a project that is not embarrassed by dramatic presentation. What prevented the material from becoming generic was the contrast within it: harder structures were repeatedly interrupted or complicated by more lyrical textures, while Timur Karakus’ vocal delivery carried enough character to avoid reducing German-language dark rock to its most familiar gestures.

The band looked comfortable with scale. Some groups visibly attempt to fill a large stage by increasing the quantity of movement; Schöngeist seemed more interested in using space compositionally, allowing the guitars, voice and more delicate textures to expand and contract around one another. The result was dramatic but not ridiculously inflated, and the performance benefited from the fact that they do not appear embarrassed by emotional or visual grandeur when the songs require it.

With Menticide, virtually all of that ornament disappeared again. Their set was based on something more elemental: repetition, pressure and the authority of rhythm. The old-school EBM vocabulary was obvious, but onstage it felt less nostalgic than brutally functional. Sequences were allowed to repeat until they acquired physical weight, while Johan Damm’s vocal delivery became almost another rhythmic device inside the construction.

What mattered was the economy. There was very little unnecessary information in the performance, and precisely because of that, small changes carried enormous effect. A shift in vocal intensity, an additional layer or a harder pulse could alter the entire atmosphere. On the Amphibühne, where elaborate productions can easily dominate attention, Menticide demonstrated the opposite principle: sometimes very little is required if every element has enough authority. There was also enough grime within the control to prevent the music from becoming a laboratory reconstruction of old-school body music.

I also caught Debdepan only briefly on Parkbühne, but they made an immediate impression. The Margate-based project is centred around Chelsea Tolhurst and Grace Bontoft, childhood friends who formed the band after writing together during lockdown, with Chelsea handling guitar and lead vocals and Grace bass and vocals; onstage they frequently expand the duo format with live drums. Their music has developed from the darker, more ethereal mood of the early Omen material towards something increasingly difficult to place neatly between dark alternative rock, post-punk, grunge, art-pop and dance-oriented electronics.

What I saw at NCN had exactly that appealing refusal to settle into a single category. There was considerable weight in the bass and guitars, but the music never became conventionally heavy; rhythm remained extremely important, giving the songs a restless, almost danceable momentum underneath the darker guitar textures. The vocals added another contrast, capable of sounding restrained and slightly detached before suddenly becoming much more immediate, while the musicians appeared completely comfortable allowing rougher edges to remain visible rather than polishing everything into immaculate dark-pop surfaces.

Their more recent material makes particular sense in that context. The 2025 Lovers & Others EP moves through grunge-inflected guitars, electronic pulses, heavy rhythm and a much more visceral form of alternative pop, with songs such as “The Girl” and “Habit” relying on sharp contrasts between apparent restraint and sudden bursts of physical force. On Parkbühne, even the few minutes I caught had that same quality: young, direct and slightly unruly, but with enough control underneath to make the collision of influences feel intentional rather than accidental.

I did not stay long enough to judge the complete set, but this was another of those NCN moments where a short photographic stop became a genuine discovery. Debdepan had personality immediately, both visually and musically, and there was something refreshing about a band entering a dark-scene festival without sounding as though they had constructed themselves specifically to satisfy the expectations of that scene.

Another overlap required movement between The Beauty Of Gemina and Lovataraxx. I saw only part of The Beauty Of Gemina, but the fragment was beautiful. The guitars were much more physical than the word “melancholic” might suggest, pounding and expansive without turning the material into conventional hard rock, while Michael Sele’s voice brought an entirely different emotional texture above them.

His delivery has something almost literary about it. The words seem considered not only for what they say but for how their sound changes the emotional meaning of the instrumentation around them. That created a beautiful opposition onstage: muscular guitars underneath, poetic vocals above, neither cancelling the other. The music could become forceful and still retain enormous inwardness. I would have liked considerably more time with the performance, because what I heard suggested one of those concerts in which the power arrives not through obvious aggression but through the coexistence of physical sound and reflective writing.

Lovataraxx approached physicality through reduction instead and were among the most elegant performances of the weekend for me. Their coldwave and minimal electronic language can initially appear restrained, but onstage that restraint becomes surprisingly energetic. There is excellent interplay between the performers, and rather than standing separately inside predefined roles, they seem continually to react to the same pulse.

That interaction gives the music a warmth that is not always immediately apparent within its colder surfaces. The structures are reduced enough that every movement and every change in vocal or electronic emphasis becomes visible, while the beat remains sufficiently insistent to keep the audience physically involved. I found the whole thing extremely graceful but never passive; the beauty came from precision and communication rather than decoration.

The Amphibühne later moved into the much denser artistic world of Samsas Traum. My own attention was primarily on Samsas Traum because I had particularly wanted to see Alexander Kaschte’s project again. My previous encounter had been years ago at Amphi Festival, and I had also interviewed him for Side-Line more recently, so this was one of those concerts in which past impressions, recent conversation and present performance inevitably entered the same frame.

Samsas Traum have never seemed entirely contained by the idea of a band playing songs. The project operates more like an extended artistic system in which music, literature, poetry, imagery and a dense network of references continually interfere with one another. The musical vocabulary has shifted radically across the years, through metal, electronics, gothic forms, orchestral elements and theatrical songwriting, but the continuity lies in Kaschte’s tendency to construct worlds rather than isolated tracks.

The beautiful Amphibühne lighting mattered enormously because Samsas Traum benefit from visual depth, yet it was not decoration. Light, language, gesture and sound appeared to participate in the same construction. Kaschte’s theatricality has always been pronounced, but what saves it from empty theatrical effect is the density behind it: phrases carry literary and philosophical associations, melodic beauty can coexist with violence, and apparent grandeur can suddenly expose something intimate, grotesque or painfully human underneath.

Calling this merely “poetic” is almost insufficient because poetry here is not synonymous with prettiness. It is compression, allowing several emotional registers and possible meanings to occupy a single image without obliging the listener to resolve them. Seeing the project again after so many years was therefore less like revisiting an old band than returning to an artistic language that had continued changing while I was away from it.

What I found especially moving was that the project still seemed capable of revision. I was not watching a beautifully preserved version of something I remembered from Amphi. Kaschte had changed, the language had changed and naturally I had changed as well. Yet the fundamental proposition remained recognisable: Samsas Traum as a place where music and language are not parallel components but parts of the same act of storytelling. In the Amphibühne light, the result felt less like a concert built around isolated songs than a temporary piece of theatre assembled

ACTORS presented a rather different logistical problem. Our Love Will Live Forever had been released only the previous day, on 4 September, so this was not simply another festival appearance by an established band but one of the first opportunities to hear material that had quite literally just entered the world. Having recently spoken with ACTORS about the record, I was especially interested in what would happen when songs I knew through headphones and conversation were suddenly placed in front of an audience.

The Parkbühne, however, was almost comically inadequate for the level of interest. ACTORS have long since grown beyond the dimensions of a stage that intimate, and with a new album arriving at precisely the same moment the problem became very physical: people packed tightly around the stage and sightlines disappeared almost immediately. At points it was practically impossible to watch what was happening unless you happened to occupy the right few square metres. There were technical problems as well, which complicated matters further, although neither the crowd nor the band appeared particularly willing to surrender the concert to them. If anything, the circumstances demonstrated rather efficiently that ACTORS now occupy a very different position from the one such a stage assignment might suggest.

What I could properly observe was interesting precisely because the new material did not arrive carrying an enormous sign announcing a new era. Jason Corbett and the band did not turn vulnerability into spectacle or insist upon a dramatic rupture with what came before. The songs entered the existing ACTORS vocabulary naturally: the visual precision and instinct for melodic shape remained intact, but beneath those carefully constructed surfaces there was a greater acceptance of instability, as though polish was no longer being asked to conceal quite so much.

Corbett’s delivery remained controlled rather than demonstrative, Shannon Hemmett supplied both electronic detail and an essential visual counterweight, while Kendall Wooding and Adam Fink gave the material considerably more bodily weight than its studio elegance might initially suggest. That contrast became particularly useful in these less-than-ideal circumstances. The performance could not depend entirely on perfect presentation – the stage was overcrowded from the audience perspective and the technical conditions were not flawless – yet the songs still survived contact with that disorder.

Leaving Parkbühne afterwards proved almost as complicated as watching the concert in the first place. The crowd had become so dense around ACTORS that simply working my way out and across the festival grounds took considerably longer than expected, which meant I reached SKYND very late and managed only two songs. I would therefore not pretend to review the set as a whole; this was genuinely a glimpse rather than a concert I properly experienced.

Even within those two songs, however, SKYND’s visual and musical identity was impossible to mistake. Since forming in 2017, the project has built its work around real criminal cases, combining industrial electronics, metal weight and heavily processed vocals with a visual language that places the singer somewhere between narrator, witness and deliberately constructed character. What struck me immediately was the precision of that construction. The make-up, movement, voice and sound do not feel like separate elements assembled around the songs; they appear to belong to the same unsettling system.

The vocals can move from something almost childlike or eerily detached into much harsher distorted registers, while the electronics underneath retain a heavy, deliberate pulse. What little I saw was intensely controlled visually, yet the subject matter continually destabilises that control because it refers back to actual human violence rather than fictional horror. Around the time of NCN, SKYND had also moved into material dealing with abuse protected by power and public status, with “Jimmy Savile” followed by “Johnny Kitagawa”, which suggested another shift in emphasis within the project.

Two songs are nowhere near enough to judge how successfully the complete set developed that material, and I will not pretend otherwise. What I saw was visually striking, sonically heavy and immediately recognisable; mostly, though, the experience became another illustration of NCN’s logistical cruelty. Sometimes the running order does not simply force a choice between bands. First it gives you ACTORS on a stage far too small for the audience they attract, and then makes escaping that audience part of the journey to the next concert.

Sunday

Sunday opened with Zalvox, and after two very dense days this was exactly the kind of performance I needed. Ribi’s electronics have an unusually tactile quality despite being carefully controlled, while Dorain’s voice gives the project its emotional centre. What continually surprises me about them is how naturally those two components converse.

Nothing seems overperformed. Ribi reacts to Dorain’s presence, Dorain inhabits rather than simply sings over the electronics, and small exchanges between them become part of the atmosphere. Her voice was especially beautiful at NCN. There is fragility there, but also confidence and considerable control, and the contrast with the electronic structures creates warmth without diminishing their precision.

The result was atmospheric without becoming sleepy, intimate without being withdrawn, and sufficiently detailed to pull an already festival-tired attention span back into focus. Their communication is one of the loveliest aspects of the project because it never feels as though one person supplies “the music” while the other supplies “the voice”; both participate in directing the emotional movement of the same material.

Grundeis then occupied the Amphibühne, and the contrast could hardly have been stronger. The Hamburg band move through post-punk, shoegaze, noise and gothic guitar textures, but what interests me is not the number of genres available for description; it is the way those textures continually change the emotional pressure of the songs.

On the largest stage, their handling of guitar density became especially impressive. Shoegaze can become indistinct outdoors because so much of its intimacy depends on saturation, while skeletal post-punk can seem disproportionately small once expanded into open space. Grundeis managed to preserve both density and definition. Layers of guitar accumulated, withdrew and blurred without becoming an anonymous wall, the rhythm section maintained genuine forward momentum, and Laura Müller’s vocals cut through without needing to overpower everything around them.

The stage suited them surprisingly well. Their music expanded into the space rather than merely occupying it, and there was enough movement inside the guitar structures to keep the performance engaging without resorting to excessive theatricality. It was post-punk in one of its more convincing contemporary forms: informed by history, certainly, but far too alive to resemble historical reconstruction.

The schedule then created an impossible choice between Lovelorn Dolls and Mayflower Madame, so I only saw short sections of each. Neither deserves the false certainty of a complete concert review based on a few photographed songs, but both left very clear impressions.

The Brussels project Lovelorn Dolls has always placed electronic gothic rock, heavier guitars and Kristell Lowagie’s expressive voice inside a visual universe where childhood imagery, dolls and apparent innocence can coexist with considerably darker emotional material. The short portion I witnessed still carried that tension strongly. There was theatrical colour, but also a much heavier musical foundation than the visual language might initially suggest.

Lowagie’s voice was the element binding those contradictions together. She can appear fragile one moment and considerably more forceful the next without either register feeling theatrical for its own sake. There was emotional intensity in the performance that made leaving particularly frustrating, and knowing the difficult history behind the project’s current chapter inevitably added another layer without needing to dominate the experience.

Mayflower Madame, from Oslo, created an entirely different kind of atmosphere. Their guitars seem to expand horizontally, creating a large sonic field rather than simply increasing volume, while the rhythm section continuously pulls that field forward.

The short portion I heard had an almost narcotic quality. Vocals were partially embedded inside the guitar texture, giving the impression that the songs were emerging from within the atmosphere rather than being placed over it. Yet the music never became static. There was always enough rhythmic tension beneath the psychedelic and shoegazing elements to prevent the set from dissolving into beautiful haze. It was dark, hypnotic and immediately distinctive, exactly the sort of performance where leaving after only a few songs feels particularly unfair.

The same problem returned with Mildreda and The Foreign Resort. Mildreda had been particularly high on my list because Realities had appeared only days before NCN, and I had already spent an unusual amount of time with the material, first while reviewing the album and then while discussing it with Jan Dewulf. That inevitably changes the experience of a concert. Instead of encountering the songs as unfamiliar objects, I arrived knowing many of their structures and emotional tensions in considerable detail, which made it fascinating to watch what happened when music I had previously examined almost microscopically was released into a festival environment.

What happened was not simply that the new material became louder. Onstage, Mildreda changed its proportions. Rhythms that can function almost architecturally on record became intensely physical, harsher electronic textures acquired actual impact, and Dewulf’s voice moved much closer to the centre of the experience. The new songs contain considerable vulnerability, but the performance never treated that vulnerability as fragility; if anything, the emotional openness made the aggression feel more purposeful. There was real force in the set, yet the quieter and more delicate passages retained their significance precisely because they were surrounded by so much pressure.

The circumstances made this even more interesting. Mildreda had to perform in uncompromising daylight, which is almost an act of sabotage against the usual visual grammar of dark electro. There was no darkness to extend the atmosphere, no possibility of disappearing into smoke, projections or carefully sculpted light, and therefore very little external assistance available to the music. Instead of weakening the performance, the exposure made its internal construction easier to perceive. Changes in density, rhythm and vocal intensity had to carry the dramatic weight themselves, and they did so remarkably well.

What I appreciated most was the sense that this was not a carefully preserved studio object being reproduced for an audience. Dewulf seemed fully inside the material, allowing it to become rougher, more immediate and more physically animated than its recorded version while still preserving the contradictions that make Mildreda interesting in the first place: severity beside vulnerability, precision beside abrasion and a very private emotional language projected through something much larger and more forceful. The daylight may have denied the band an obvious visual atmosphere, but it also proved that they did not need one.

My glimpse of The Foreign Resort was similarly brief, but the band’s physical understanding of post-punk was obvious immediately. Their guitars produce enormous atmosphere without sacrificing attack, while the rhythm underneath is far more urgent than the melancholy surface might initially suggest.

Even during those few songs, there was a strong sensation of movement. The sound expanded outward, but the pulse continually dragged it forward, creating the tension that makes The Foreign Resort more interesting than a purely atmospheric guitar band. I would have liked to stay because the performance seemed to be building rather than simply presenting its character immediately, but NCN’s simultaneous programme made that impossible.

One performance I deliberately refused to leave was Supersimmetria at Kulturbühne. Armando Alibrandi’s project occupies the borderlands between industrial techno, atmospheric electronics and detailed experimental construction, but its real fascination comes from gradual transformation.

The music does not depend on theatrical drops or obvious moments announcing that something important is about to happen. Rhythmic cells appear and begin changing function, frequencies thicken, microscopic details become suddenly structural, and only retrospectively does one realise how far a seemingly stable pattern has travelled. There is substantial intellectual precision involved, yet none of it feels academic because the body is implicated from the beginning.

This was one of those sets where I eventually put the camera away because continuing to photograph became a less adequate form of attention than dancing. The Kulturbühne’s relatively compact dimensions concentrated the sound beautifully, and the whole performance developed into that rare territory where analysis and bodily response stop competing. I stayed, I danced, and for music designed around the transformation of repetition, that may be more useful criticism than a catalogue of technical terminology.

Peter Heppner & Band changed the Amphibühne completely. There was already something celebratory in the atmosphere, particularly with Heppner’s birthday immediately approaching, but what made the concert emotional went considerably deeper than the occasion itself.

Some songs eventually stop belonging exclusively to the musicians who created them because listeners absorb them into their own biographies. “Dream Of You”, “Once In A Lifetime” and “Kein Zurück” have long since crossed that threshold. They become attached to relationships, departures, particular rooms, years, people who are no longer present and versions of ourselves we can remember without necessarily wanting to become again.

From my position with the camera, this accumulated history was visible across the Amphibühne. There were raised hands everywhere, people dancing, others almost motionless, and tears in more than one pair of eyes. Heppner’s voice still carries an extraordinary amount of emotional information without requiring theatrical demonstration, and the band gave the material enough scale to inhabit the amphitheatre without turning the songs into inflated festival versions of themselves.

Looking across that sea of heads and moving hands, I had the strange impression that thousands of people were listening to different songs despite the sound system playing exactly the same ones. Each listener had accumulated another version through the years spent with the music. That is one of the rare privileges of songs that survive long enough to acquire biographies beyond those of their authors.

Diary Of Dreams on the Waldbühne produced a related feeling for me, although in a far more private register. It was one of the few concerts at NCN that I experienced from beginning to end, and that completeness mattered because this was not a performance built around a sequence of isolated peaks. It developed gradually, with guitars, electronics, percussion, voice and light continually changing their relative weight, so that the emotional direction emerged through accumulation rather than through obvious theatrical cues.

At one point Adrian Hates raised both arms towards the musicians, and for a few seconds he looked almost like a conductor standing before his own small orchestra. The association with Diary Of Dreams’ work with the Philharmonie Leipzig was unavoidable, but what interested me was not any literal symphonic quality. It was the sense that Hates was directing movement, density and emotional pressure, allowing one element to rise while another withdrew and treating the band less as a collection of separate performers than as parts of a continuously changing structure.

That image also connected with something more personal for me. I have known Diary Of Dreams’ music for such a long time that I no longer hear many of these songs as fixed compositions. They have accompanied different versions of me, and what they meant when I was twenty is not necessarily what they mean now that I am over forty. When I was younger, a Diary Of Dreams concert could feel like being allowed into an intensely emotional private world, almost like opening a book whose atmosphere temporarily replaced everything outside it. Now the experience is more layered. Certain songs return with memories attached; others have gradually detached themselves from the circumstances in which I first heard them and acquired completely different meanings.

That, to me, is one of the more interesting measures of durable songwriting. A great song does not merely preserve the emotional conditions of the time in which it was written, nor does it require the listener to become their younger self again in order to respond to it. It changes because we change. Adrian Hates approaches the material differently after decades of performing it, the musicians around him alter its texture, the audience brings new biographies into the room, and the songs absorb all of that without losing their internal identity.

At NCN I was unusually aware of that movement between past and present. The music still carried the same recognisable emotional language, but my relationship with it had become more reflective, more nostalgic in places and, paradoxically, more open because I no longer needed it to mean exactly what it once meant.

That is why the concert felt so complete. Its emotional weight was not forced; it accumulated through pacing, detail, restraint and the extraordinary continuity of a musical world that has been changing for years without losing its centre. The image of Hates with his arms raised stayed with me because it seemed to capture precisely that process: not an artist preserving his past, but one still conducting it into new forms.

Finally, Die Krupps walked onto the Amphibühne. By then I had spent three days moving between stages, photographing, listening, talking and repeatedly forcing my concentration to reset for another performance. Familiarity should also have worked against them: I have seen Die Krupps enough times that I am not automatically impressed simply because “Nazis Auf Speed”, “Schmutzfabrik” or “Der Amboss” suddenly appear in a set. Yet from the opening sequence it became obvious that this was going to be one of those concerts where prior knowledge makes the reaction more meaningful rather than less.

The sound was phenomenal. Electronics remained hard, sharply defined and rhythmically exact, while the guitars had enormous abrasive weight without collapsing the mix into undifferentiated noise. With Marcel Zürcher back, that part of the sound had genuine physical presence again; his guitar did not simply reinforce the electronic structure but rubbed against it, destabilised it and introduced the friction that is essential to Die Krupps at their best. Their music may be founded on repetition, programming, steel and discipline, but its real power onstage comes from the moment when those controlled systems begin to sound as though they might exceed their own boundaries.

Jürgen Engler was outstanding, not because he resorted to exaggerated gestures but because he seemed constantly aware of the amphitheatre and of how the audience was responding. The chemistry across the band was equally strong, and that communication is one reason the performance could remain extremely tight while still feeling dangerous. The lighting was exceptional, the stage arrangement gave every musician visual and physical room, and the entire production seemed calibrated to increase impact without sacrificing clarity.

What surprised me was how quickly the analytical part of my brain disappeared. I know this material, I know how Die Krupps construct their concerts, and I have photographed them often enough to recognise many of the mechanisms involved, yet somewhere in the middle of the set I stopped evaluating them against previous performances and simply thought: they are astonishingly good tonight. That is a significant reaction precisely because novelty was not available to assist it. The band had to overcome familiarity through quality alone, and they did.

The concert had the physical force of a blow to the solar plexus, but it was not crude force. It was adrenaline organised with remarkable precision: excellent sound, magnificent light, aggressive electronics, guitars with real mass and a band operating with the confidence of musicians who understand their own history without behaving as though they are obliged to reproduce it ceremonially. Nothing about the set suggested a heritage act displaying evidence of its former importance. The songs were attacked rather than preserved.

As a finale to NCN, it was difficult to imagine anything better. The Amphibühne was packed, the audience was completely with them, and all the accumulated fatigue of three festival days was converted for a while into something much simpler and much more physical. I have seen Die Krupps many times; this was nevertheless one of the strongest performances I have ever seen from them, an absolute knockout and an almost perfect way to close the festival.

What remained

What remained with me afterwards was the same thing I had noticed while photographing the audience at the beginning of the weekend. For a festival with such a dense programme, so many stages and enough simultaneous attractions to keep everyone permanently negotiating with their own schedule, NCN feels remarkably unpretentious on the human level.

Every day can produce several completely different versions of the same festival depending on which direction someone turns, and yet the weekend rarely felt like a competition for maximum consumption. People stopped for conversations. Carefully prepared schedules were abandoned because someone had encountered an old friend. Audiences danced without appearing to calculate how visible they were while doing it. People ate together, exchanged recommendations, talked about what they had just seen and allowed the festival to become social rather than merely consumable.

That was also what changed my photography. I searched less for costumes and more for expressions, less for surfaces and more for those brief moments when somebody forgot there was a camera nearby. It required a different form of looking and occasionally a little more patience, but I think that difference explains something essential about NCN. The festival has an enormous programme and a range of music broad enough to move from fragile coldwave to industrial violence, from literary theatricality to post-punk guitars and large-scale synthpop within a matter of hours, yet the infrastructure never entirely becomes the subject.

Returning after 2023 therefore felt less like repeating an experience than correcting an assumption. I had remembered Nocturnal Culture Night primarily as an extraordinarily large and complicated festival that I was glad to have experienced once. Three years later I understood that its scale is only the visible part. Underneath it is a surprisingly human mechanism: musicians moving between very different artistic languages, audiences moving between stages and one another, and a festival whose constant motion somehow still leaves room for people simply to spend time together.

For me, after another long summer of festivals, that combination of musical abundance, physical intensity, curiosity and remarkably uncomplicated human contact was a very good place to finish.

Audience gallery

The full set of audience photographs Karo Kratochwil took at Nocturnal Culture Night 2026.

Karo Kratochwil

Based in Wrocław, I work as a music journalist and photographer covering electro, industrial, EBM, gothic, and darkwave. My work includes features and live coverage, as well as concert, portrait, promo, and theater photography. What interests me most is the connection between artistic intention, what the work communicates, and what unfolds live on stage, all in pursuit of the bigger picture behind the music.

“Our Love Will Live Forever” had its title before the event that made those words much harder to take literally. Jason Corbett took the phrase from his grandparents’ tombstone; only later, during the writing and recording of the album, a serious cardiac emergency forced him to consider whether he would finish the record at all, or return to the stage. His answer in this interview is strikingly unsentimental: “There is no permanence, there is no forever.”

That does not negate the title so much as change the problem underneath it. “Our Love Will Live Forever”, ACTORS‘ third full-length album, due 4 September 2026 through Artoffact Records, becomes less about permanence as a promise than about what can remain meaningful once permanence itself is no longer credible. The new material emerged through “CTRL”, “Left On Read” and “Youth”, while Corbett’s enforced interruption gave the record a context he could not have planned when he began it.

What is equally interesting, however, is how little Corbett wants to intellectualise his own process after the fact. Again and again, questions about control, rhythmic contradiction, genre or emotional design lead him back to instinct: the beat comes first, a song is left alone until it can be heard afresh, and technical decisions survive only if they produce an emotional reaction. Shannon Hemmett, meanwhile, gives the album’s central idea a visual counterpart through a star adapted from an engraving on medieval armour. The conversation moves between mortality and process, instant communication and old anxieties, authorship inside a four-person band, and what comes after the European tour.

Karo: “Our Love Will Live Forever” existed before the album acquired its most difficult context: the words come from your grandparents’ tombstone, and you had already chosen them before the cardiac emergency interrupted the record. I find that chronology fascinating because the sentence remained exactly the same while your relationship to it changed completely. When you returned to the album, did you feel that you were now making a different record underneath the same title?

Jason: Yes and no. There were definitely challenges to this album that I had not experienced before. When you are forced to take a break like that, you can’t help but reevaluate your motivation and intentions. At the end of the day, there is no permanence, there is no forever. I’m lucky to be here making music.

Karo: The cardiac emergency was serious enough that you were asking yourself whether you would finish the album or ever return to the stage. I’m less interested in the shock itself than in what happened when you went back to work. Did it change your threshold for what was worth keeping? Did anything suddenly feel too clever, too guarded or simply too unimportant to spend time on once not finishing the record had become a real possibility?

Jason: It took some time for me to recalibrate and get my direction again. If anything, the whole situation gave me perspective. You can’t take yourself so seriously that it becomes stifling. The songs come from somewhere inside and outside of myself. I chose to continue trusting in my process.

Karo: The album first became visible through “CTRL”, “Left On Read” and “Youth”, and to me they initially occupy quite different emotional spaces: compulsion and control, digitally prolonged rejection, then memory and the passage of time. Once they became parts of the same album, did you discover a connection between them that perhaps was not obvious while you were writing the individual songs?

Jason: The songs naturally connect. Even the previous two albums were written over lengthy periods of time but were still cohesive. The commonality is that it’s all through my lens. That ties the music together.

Karo: ACTORS are constantly described as “modern post-punk”, but I sometimes think “modern” has become one of those adjectives that explains almost nothing, particularly now that post-punk itself is such an established musical language. You’ve also said that you think less and less about genre. So what actually makes ACTORS contemporary to you now? Is it production, emotional language, technology, or simply the freedom not to treat the past as a set of instructions?

Jason: Genre has become even more prevalent with the advent of streaming. We use modern post-punk as a recognisable jumping-off point for newcomers to our music. I think we operate artistically in the spirit of the first generation of post-punk, but we definitely have one foot firmly planted in the now.

I don’t think about what other artists are doing. I’m interested in getting to the core of what we do.

Karo: By now ACTORS have a sound that can be recognised very quickly, which is a huge achievement but potentially a dangerous one. Jason, you also produce the band yourself at Jacknife Sound, so you have an unusual degree of control over that identity. Have you ever made something technically good and unmistakably ACTORS and then deliberately damaged, changed or abandoned it because it felt too much like something you already knew how to do?

Jason: All I think about is whether I like what I’m hearing. Is it eliciting an emotional reaction when I play it back?

I will start work on a song, then leave it alone for a month, so when I come back to it, it tricks my mind into feeling like I’m collaborating with someone else. Then I get another level of creativity from the process.

Karo: “Left On Read” takes something almost absurdly ordinary in contemporary communication and makes it psychologically cruel: silence is no longer simply absence, because you can see that your message has been received. I find that tiny technological change quite brutal. Has technology actually changed the experience of rejection and abandonment, or has it simply engineered a much more precise interface for anxieties people have always had?

Jason: It’s the same feelings in a world that’s instant. The fact that we have access to each other 24/7 only expedites the emotional transaction.

Karo: “CTRL” is intensely physical, with that very precise four-on-the-floor propulsion, while emotionally the song revolves around the absence of control. I like that contradiction because the body is being given something extremely disciplined to follow while everything underneath it is becoming less stable. How consciously do you use rhythm that way? Can musical control create a safe space in which emotional control can collapse?

Jason: I couldn’t tell you. I’ve never analysed the elements of a song in that way. When I’m writing a song, the beat and vibe come first. Then I react to that and start writing the lyrics. It’s a natural process.

Karo: One thing I keep noticing with ACTORS is how attractive the music can be while dealing with material that is not particularly comfortable. Melody, rhythm and production seduce first; sometimes the darker psychological content registers afterwards. But on this album there also seems to be a stronger movement back towards connection and life rather than simply dwelling inside damage. Has it become more difficult to write hope convincingly than darkness without making it sentimental?

Jason: I hate to sound cliché, but the songs really do kind of arrive on their own schedule and with their own vibe. Once the spark hits, I do my best to craft it.

You can say whatever you like. If that’s your honest expression, it should land.

Karo: Shannon, you created the visual design for “Our Love Will Live Forever”. Here you were dealing with a title that already had an intensely personal history before you began giving the album a visual identity. What did you want the artwork to understand about the record without literally illustrating mortality, memory or love? And because the artwork comes from inside ACTORS, can you allow the visual language to disagree with the music rather than simply explain it?

Shannon: The star design on the cover comes from an engraving on a medieval breastplate. To me, it was an ideal symbol to pair with the themes of the record. As the light from the star reaches into the dark, love becomes a form of armour and protection too.

Karo: ACTORS have also allowed recent songs to be substantially reconstructed through remixes, from Dave Clarke‘s “In Real Life” to “Dead Inside (Crackmix)”. I always find the interesting remixes are the ones that stop behaving respectfully towards the original. When somebody else takes your song apart, how much do you actually want them to preserve? Is a misunderstanding sometimes more revealing than a faithful interpretation?

Jason: I just love to hear what other artists do with a song. It’s fun to hear what their interpretations are. I’m not precious about it. Once the stems are out the door, they’re free to go wild.

Karo: ACTORS originate with your songwriting and production, Jason, but live the project is unmistakably four people. Shannon, Kendall and Adam are not simply reproducing a finished studio object. After all these years of playing together, where does authorship begin to become collective? Can the live band teach you that something you considered fundamental to a recording actually wasn’t fundamental at all?

Jason: Each member brings context and mood to the music. We exist on recordings and live onstage. Both are a different experience and important. The band members are an integral part of what the band and songs are.

Karo: We’ll meet at NCN in Deutzen on September 5, almost at the beginning of the “Our Love Will Live Forever” tour. From there you have an extensive run through Germany, Rotterdam, Switzerland, Spain and Paris, followed by the UK shows with She Past Away and then Canadian dates in October. What happens after this announced run? Are you already discussing more European shows or festivals for 2027, and are there places where you particularly want to take this album that are not on the current schedule?

Jason: After this fall tour, we have a bunch of US dates we will be announcing. That’s all I’m allowed to say.

About ACTORS

ACTORS are a Vancouver-based quartet consisting of Jason Corbett on vocals and guitar, Shannon Hemmett on synthesizers and vocals, Kendall Wooding on bass and vocals, and Adam Fink on drums. Corbett also produces the band’s music at his Vancouver studio, Jacknife Sound. The current line-up is confirmed by both the band and Artoffact Records.

The band’s first full-length album, “It Will Come to You”, was released through Artoffact Records in 2018. Its combination of guitar, synthesizers, bass-driven momentum and tightly controlled production established the sound with which ACTORS became internationally associated. The follow-up, “Acts of Worship”, arrived on 1 October 2021, again produced by Corbett at Jacknife Sound. That album also marked Kendall Wooding’s first ACTORS album on bass.

“Reanimated” followed in 2022, collecting earlier B-sides and related material, while the next period increasingly unfolded through individual releases. “In Real Life”, “Dead Inside” and “Object of Desire” appeared in 2024, followed by the “Crazy Lovers” remix collection in 2025. In 2026 ACTORS opened the new album cycle with “CTRL” in February, “Left On Read” in April and “Youth” in July. Their official Bandcamp currently lists those releases alongside the band’s earlier catalogue. Hemmett also records as Leathers, whose debut album “Ultraviolet” appeared in 2024.

“Our Love Will Live Forever” is scheduled for 4 September 2026 through Artoffact Records. According to the album announcement supplied by the band, it is ACTORS’ third full-length studio album and was produced by Jason Corbett at Jacknife Sound. Shannon Hemmett created the album’s visual design.

The album arrives simultaneously with a major touring period. The European run begins in Berlin on 4 September, followed the next day by NCN Festival in Deutzen. ACTORS then continue through Germany, the Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain and France before three UK dates with She Past Away in Manchester, Bristol and London. Canadian shows follow in October in Vancouver, Edmonton and Calgary.

And, as Corbett reveals here, that will not be the end of the 2026 live cycle: a further run of US dates is already planned, although the band is not yet ready to announce the details.

Karo Kratochwil

Based in Wrocław, I work as a music journalist and photographer covering electro, industrial, EBM, gothic, and darkwave. My work includes features and live coverage, as well as concert, portrait, promo, and theater photography. What interests me most is the connection between artistic intention, what the work communicates, and what unfolds live on stage, all in pursuit of the bigger picture behind the music.

The Vancouver, Canada-based post-punk act Actors is back with a remix of their new single, “In Real Life”, by Dave Clarke. The remix comes just in time for the band’s European tour, kicking off January 31 in Bucharest.

You can check out the 6-minute long mix below.

About Actors

Actors, formed in 2012 in Vancouver, Canada, is a post-punk band which consists of Jason Corbett (vocals and guitar), Shannon Hemmett (keyboards and backing vocals), Kendall Wooding (bass and backing vocals), and Adam Fink (drums).

Their debut album, “It Will Come to You”, was released in 2018, it was followed by “Acts of Worship” in 2021.

Corbett writes, produces, mixes, and masters all music at his own Vancouver studio, Jacknife Sound.

Actors (with Soft Vein) tour dates

01/31 Bucharest – Control Club
02/01 Athens – Death Disco
02/06 Munster + Gleis
02/07 The Hague – Grauzone
02/08 London + The Garage
02/09 Liège + Le Garage
02/10 Bochum + Die Trompete
02/12 Hamburg – Hafenklang
02/13 Berlin + Frannz Club
02/14 Dresden + Barenzwinger
02/15 Winterthur + Gaswerk
02/16 Munich + Rote Sonne
02/19 Turin + Ziggy Club
02/20 Marseille + Le Molotov
02/22 Barcelona + Upload
02/23 Madrid + Nazca
02/26 Bordeaux – IBOAT
02/27 Paris + L’International
02/28 Lille + La Bulle Café
03/01 Brussels + Canal 10

• With Soft Vein

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

This Eternal Decay is an industrial dark-wave project formed by Riccardo Sabetti (Spiral69), Pasquale Vico (Date at Midnight), Andrea Freda (Spiritual Front), and Alessio Schiavi (Avant-Garde). Out now is the single and video “Rise & Fall”. “Rise & Fall” is the first single from “Spettro”, the new album by This Eternal Decay, set to be released on January 10, 2025 (Trisol Music Group). Musically the combo channels their passion for romantic darkwave, blending it with industrial rhythms and echoes of synthpop.

“Rise & Fall” will be available on all digital platforms from October 18, 2024 (pre-save here), but you can now exclusively view the video for the track right below. The video for “Rise & Fall” was created by editing together all the footage sent in by fans recorded during the concerts of the last tour. “It is intended to be a kind of “love letter” to our audience,” so the band says.

“Rise & Fall” addresses the issue of gaslighting so the band says: “A form of psychological abuse that is becoming increasingly common in many relationships due to the growing individualism in modern society. It explores the destructiveness of relationships centered around one person’s ego, which leads to the annihilation of the other, ultimately resulting in the complete loss of self-esteem and the desire to engage with the world. A toxic relationship from which the only escape is to disappear.”

About This Eternal Decay

This Eternal Decay made their debut with the album “I Choose an Eternity of This” (Trisol Music Group), which was followed by a tour through Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, supporting Samsas Traum twice that same year.

In April 2020, they released their second album, “Silence”, featuring guest appearances from Then Comes Silence and Theatres des Vampires. However, the global pandemic forced them to cancel several European tour dates. In June 2021, they bounced back with the maxi single “Leave”, which included the title track, two remixes by Kurs Lestat, and an acoustic version with Luigi Rubino (Ashram) on piano.

On January 7, 2022, their third studio album, “Nocturnæ”, was released, featuring collaborations with Hapax and Avant-Garde, as well as remixes by ACTORS, Ash Code, Wisborg, and A Copy for Collapse. The release was followed by the 15-date European NocTour in October 2022.

In 2022, the band recorded their fourth studio album, “Absølutiøn” (Trisol Music Group), which was released on May 18, 2023. The album’s release was followed by an extensive European tour, playing over 30 shows across the continent.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Bill Leeb, the legendary frontman of Frontline Assembly, as well as Delerium, Noise Unit, Intermix, Cyberaktif, and numerous other projects, is finally releasing his first solo-album after all these years. Model Kollapse draws inspiration from the world of AI and is infused with Leeb’s signature sound. While there are unmistakable EBM influences that echo Frontline Assembly, the album also incorporates elements from his other projects, making it distinctly Leeb. “Model Kollapse” is a meticulously crafted Electro piece that balances between intense, driving sections -my personal favorites, and more atmospheric, Ambient moments carried by rhythms. The album features guest appearances from members of ACTORS, contributing guitars and female backing vocals, and Mimi Page, known for her work with Delerium, lends her voice to the final track. Longtime collaborator Rhys Fulber also returns to produce several songs. Despite its strong start, the album concludes with a few weaker tracks, but overall, “Model Kollapse” stands as a compelling and polished addition to Leeb’s impressive discography. (Rating:8).

Listen to “Neuromotive”:

Read the news on ‘Model Kollapse’.

About Bill Leeb

Bill Leeb is an Austrian-born Canadian musician based in Vancouver. He began in Skinny Puppy in 1984 under the name Wilhelm Schroeder.

In 1986, he founded Front Line Assembly, initially with Michael Balch, later joined by Rhys Fulber and Chris Peterson. In 1987, Leeb and Fulber launched Delerium, which later achieved international recognition with “Silence”.

Over the decades, Leeb’s projects have appeared on labels including Nettwerk, Third Mind, Wax Trax!, Cleopatra, Dependent, and Metropolis Records. His first solo album “Model Kollapse” was released on September 13, 2024 via Metropolis, followed in 2025 by the “Machine Vision” EP.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Date At Midnight is an Italian Post-Punk and Goth-Rock band formed in 2007 in Rome. This year, they released their third full-length album, “Fading Into Grace”, through Manic Depression Records. The album features well-crafted, professional compositions that seamlessly blend the band’s signature alluring guitar work with more melodic and atmospheric electronic elements, all underscored by deep, brooding vocals. It’s a standout release that is sure to captivate the international Post-Punk community. I had the opportunity to chat with the entire band to learn more about this remarkable album. (Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You’ve been active as Date At Midnight for several years now. What initially brought you together, and how do you reflect on what you’ve achieved so far?

Pasquale: When we embarked on this journey back in 2007, the Goth scene in Rome was a vibrant tapestry of parties, concerts, and kindred spirits. Both Daniele and I had our roots in other bands, but we yearned for something new, a vessel to express ourselves, revel in the joy of creation, and craft our own music. Little did we know that Date At Midnight would endure, becoming a cornerstone of the Italian scene with countless gigs across Europe. It’s a peculiar blend of pride and a slice of healthy melancholy that fills me when I reflect on our path.

Daniele: I wholeheartedly echo Pasquale’s sentiments. The early days were filled with unforgettable moments, both within the band and in the thriving scene that birthed us, and this feeling is still alive.

Francesco: I joined Date At Midnight in 2012, after their initial works, and I was elated to receive their call, having been an early supporter. It felt like coming home, and I immediately sought to contribute, which I believe is evident in the evolution of our drumming from the early works to “Songs To Fall And Forget” and beyond. The camaraderie we share, especially backstage, after shows, and during our travels, are my most cherished memories.

Nunzio: Though I joined just a few months ago, I’ve known Date At Midnight for years and even shared the stage with them with some of my previous projects. Playing with them is a source of immense pride, and our first gig together in Budapest last July is a memory I will treasure forever. I truly look forward to what will come next, from every point of view!

Q: Why are there always years between each album release? Is it challenging to win back fans after such breaks? What keeps you busy when you’re not making music?

Daniele: Balancing Date At Midnight with our daily lives can be challenging and, since we care a lot about our live performances, when we have to play live we prefer to focus on the setlist rather than composing. After the very good outcome of “Songs To Fall And Forget” in 2016, the plan was to release a quick follow-up EP, which we did with “Reverse Resilience” in 2018, and then a new album. However, COVID disrupted our plans, and furthermore our original guitarist’s departure forced us to start again almost from scratch. These challenges have certainly impacted our timing, but the important thing is that we are now here, alive, kicking, and with a great new album out!

Pasquale: Each album has its own unique story. We’ve always been a band that thrives in the rehearsal room, sharing every step of the creative process. Especially in the last years external factors like lineup changes, personal commitments, and the pandemic have all played a role. Fortunately, we have a loyal and patient fan base that continues to grow with each release, and that’s truly heartening.

Francesco: My two daughters and my day job keep me busy, but I relish every moment in the rehearsal room. The creative phase is very exciting, and we take our time composing, recording, and mixing. Our fans seem to appreciate this approach, and that makes it all worthwhile.

Q: Tell us more about your latest work, “Fading Into This Grace.” What is the album about, and what influenced its composition? How did it all come together?

Pasquale: “Fading Into This Grace” is our most complex work, with layers of sound, extensive use of synthesizers, and deeply introspective lyrics. From the bass guitar perspective, we aimed for a prominent sound that also contributes melodically, in true Post-Punk and Dark-Wave tradition. The album delves into obsessions, impulses, disillusions, and emotions, addressing unresolved questions in a symbolist and visionary manner. It explores the inexorable flow of time, the need and urgency of losing yourself in a state of grace that probably cannot ever come, the illusory yet essential nature of love, and the societal traps of pre-packaged definitions, all while clinging to the vital, albeit potentially tricky, flame of hope.

Daniele: The new album features nine tracks, each distinct, reflecting our eclectic approach. We blend Gothic-Rock, Post-Punk, Dark-Wave, Death-Rock, and Cold-Wave without boundaries. The vocals are varied and expressive, with moments of climax, liberation, and desperation. I aimed for a more spontaneous vocal approach, and I believe we achieved that. To me, the entire work is inspired by love and sorrow.

Q: Who handles what when it comes to the writing and production process? And what contributes to the chemistry among you?

Daniele: Our music has evolved with our lives, from a more whimsical youth to a view of things characterized by greater focus and less haste. This evolution is mirrored in our collaborative songwriting process, where we share ideas and feelings from the early composition stage to the final result. It’s a magical synergy that has persisted for years, fueled by our diverse musical tastes and immense passion, as we all listen to different kind of music and so each one tries to bring its own and evolving background when it comes to write a new song.

Pasquale: The writing process is truly collaborative, with each member contributing to their own instrument and providing feedback on others; this is my favorite part of the job. While the rehearsal room remains central, I must say that for “Fading Into This Grace” there has been a bit more ‘home based’ contribution, as some songs such as “No Contact/Red Zone”, “Carmilla”, “The Privation” have been fully composed and recorded in a rough demo version by myself and then finetuned all together.

In production, we closely collaborate with our sound engineer, trying always to experiment with something new; for our last works I particularly take care of this step. I want to make a special mention concerning the mastering of “Fading Into This Grace” since it has been made by William Faith in his studio in Chicago: he did it great, providing the best listening experience. Apart from the technical aspects, it has been a true honor for us to have him onboard for this release.

Q: How do you feel about the album now that it’s out? Are there any aspects you think could have been done better or differently? What do you particularly like about the songs?

Nunzio: As someone who wasn’t part of the recording process, I approached the album as a listener. I was immediately struck by its complexity and modern sound. I particularly enjoyed songs like “No Contact/Red Zone” and “The Line”, but each song has its own personality and style, keeping me engaged throughout.

Francesco: I’m very satisfied with the result. While there may always be minor details I’d tweak upon re-listening, songs like “Another Grace” and “Rendez-Vous” are so powerful that I was eager to record and release them. “Carmilla,” dedicated to my first daughter, is a particular point of pride for me, and an act of love from the whole band.

Daniele: I believe this is our best album yet, and I still enjoy listening to it, which I didn’t make so often in the past. Occasionally, I notice small things that could have been recorded differently, but it often depends on my mood. The album’s layered nature means each listening experience is unique.

Pasquale: The album has received numerous reviews, and a common sentiment is that it feels too short, leaving listeners wanting more. I think that this is the highest praise it could receive.

Q: I noticed you have some live performances coming up. What can fans expect from your new live shows, and how do you prepare for a performance?

Francesco: We’re thrilled to be back on the road. Live shows are a chance to connect with fans and fellow artists. Over the years we have connected with lot of people and with many other bands whose mutual support still endures. We’re training hard to deliver the best performances, and fans can expect an atmosphere and energy that have always been integral to our shows.

Pasquale: To prepare, we rehearse as much as possible and then we live the moment, maybe having a couple of drinks before going on stage… We’ve also revamped our visuals to align with the mood of the songs. Our “Into This Grace Tour” has begun, and we’re pleased with the live renditions of the new songs. Fans can look forward to a mix of new tracks and beloved classics, including some we haven’t performed in years.

Nunzio: I look forward to be on stage again, fully integrating myself in Date At Midnight’s interplay, which makes our shows unforgettable for everyone.

Daniele: I won’t spoil the surprise. I invite everyone to attend our shows and experience it, so… check our calendar and get ready for your Date At Midnight!

Watch the clip from “Another Grace”

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Canadian electropop musician and visual artist Shannon Hemmett aka Leathers has released her debut album “Ultraviolet”. Hemmett is best known as member of the Vancouver-based post-punk band Actors. The album is available across all major music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp.

In addition to the album, Hemmett has created a limited-edition art book that complements the music. The book features over 60 pages of original photos, song lyrics, and designs. Hemmett explains, “I wanted the relationship between our songs and the visuals to feel vivid to the listener. Along with the album, I put together an art book containing over 60 full-colour pages of original photos, lyrics, and design. It’s the perfect companion piece to the album.”

Before the album’s release, Hemmett launched a series of singles compiled in the “Reckless” EP.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Bill Leeb, the Vancouver-based musician and mastermind behind electro-industrial scene mainstays Front Line Assembly and ambient-pop duo Delerium, has released a second second single from his upcoming solo album “Model Kollapse”: “Demons”.

Leeb says that the EBM styled track is a comment on “how much darkness and evil exist in the world, some of it created via technology that is here to stay, and how we have to carefully navigate our way through it all on a day-to-day basis.”

“Model Kollapse” will be released on September 13 via Metropolis Records and is the first solo venture Leeb. The album was recorded and produced in Vancouver, Toronto and Los Angeles with assistance from production duo Dream Bullet and long-term recording cohort Rhys Fulber, plus regular mixing engineer Greg Reely.

“Demons” follows the introductory single “Terror Forms”, featuring Shannon Hemmett of the group ACTORS, who are also based in Leeb’s home city.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The Belgian electro-pop duo Metroland released “Forum” a few months ago, an electrifying conceptual hymn to the industrial revolution of the 21st century, a sonic journey exploring the crossroads of innovation and nostalgia. Fresh and experimental vintage electronic prowess for fans of the melodic Düsseldorf synth style. We talked with Passenger A and Passenger S about this new album, while new singles from this album are in the pipeline. 

The album is available on Bandcamp and on CD via the Alfa Matrix webstore.

SL. “Forum” is described as a continuation and evolution of your previous work “0”. Can you explain the conceptual link between these two albums and how the EP “Industry” serves as a bridge between them?

Passenger A&S: When “0” was not yet released and seriously delayed by many different factors, we were toying with the idea to extend the ‘World Economic Forum’ concept around the industrial revolutions. We planned 5 EP’s, each with a variance of the song “Industry 4.0” alongside new tracks. However, once “0” was out, we no longer had the urge to release these foreseen EP’s. We both felt it was simply not enough and, to be honest, it was close to being even pointless. After some creative discussions and a Belgian beer or 2 (make that 4) an album felt better, more significant and certainly in the afterglow of “0”, unfinished business.

The album indeed draws inspiration from the World Economic Forum in Davos. How did this influence shape the themes and musical direction of “Forum”?

Passenger A&S: It is in fact almost never the theme itself that shapes the songs or the direction. We mostly start from a sample, a sound, or a title. While building the song we come across other sounds and samples and even then what we had in mind to start with could turn out totally different from that. “Forum” is an album which is not as dark as its predecessor, but you can surely put it alongside the atmosphere and direction of it.

Tracks like “Happy Nothing”, “The Great Reset”, and “Infotainment” showcase your melodic side. Can you discuss the inspiration and creative process behind these particular songs?

Passenger A&S: These 3 songs all started from a totally different base. “Happy Nothing” came from a textual idea, whereas “The Great Reset” was built on a sampled baseline and “Infotainment” started from a melody. While melodies are a continuum of Metroland’s way of working, we don’t really have 1 way to go about a song, nor do we start together in the studio every time. It is quite possible that a Passenger comes up with a demo or a loop of a few seconds.

“Forum” includes experimental song structures and fresh sounds. What new techniques or approaches did you explore in this album that differ from your previous work?

Passenger A&S: Every album is an occasion to broaden our sound palette and discover new electronics. However, we never set out from the start with a clear goal; it mainly comes along during the creative process; our more ‘experimental’ side you could say. Sometimes, we even delete parts of a song or a sound, and yes, even sometimes a complete song is being omitted. We have around 5 to 6 songs that never make it on a release, and we never re-use any of these either. We do have our special things and tricks that we tend to do with shifting notes, trying different layers or strange effects. But we never look back, never try to copy something from our past, or use any of the sounds we used before. Every new release is a fresh new audio canvas where we use different approaches in sound scaping.

The EP “Industry” features different versions of the industrial revolutions, culminating in a 10-minute epic experience on the CD edition. How did you conceptualize and create this multi-part industrial journey?  And why these different versions always between CD, digital, vinyls… it’s quite conceptual for METROLAND isn’t it?

Passenger A&S: Apart from the music, there is art, there is concept, there is hard work. So, if you “only” want digital, you might get less. We strongly believe in the item as an entity to complete our message. It is only by holding, reading the booklet and seeing the full package that you understand what that message ought to be. Digital platforms should be an argument to buy a physical version on an album and not “the end”. We want to deliver value to those who appreciate it. That requires much more input from our end, more songs, more art, but in the end, it brings much more value. And yes, this is a harsh view, we confirm. But since we entered the music business in 2012 with “Mind The Gap” we get the appraisal for that from our loyal fan base.

Your music often reflects a blend of innovation and nostalgia. How do you balance these elements to create a sound that feels both fresh and rooted in the vintage electronic tradition?

Passenger A&S: It is the blend of our very rich background and music collectors from 80s to modern, from dark wave to electronics and everything in-between that results in the typical Metroland sound. Where Passenger S is inspired by dark music but loves the high-pitched sequences, Passenger A loves club stuff but prefers not to make things too jolly. We push each other in both directions and extremes, but we meet each other in the middle. It is that synergy that keeps us going, that delivers that Metroland attitude.

The tracks “Activity as a Timetrigger,” “Baukultur,” and “Quantum” continue the trajectory set by “Industry.” Can you delve into the themes and messages you wanted to convey through these electro-infused pieces?

Passenger A&S: We never thought of it that way. We never make a song, deliberately thinking of a message or a link with another album track. We do read and discuss often about the concept and about what would/could be the right direction to take, both music and art wise. Things just happen, albeit everything is linked to the theme. The current concept we are creating songs for is basically an easy one, opens a lot of opportunities, but is the hardest one for us to give it the right approach in art, when looking at all our endeavours.

As a duo, how do Passenger A and Passenger S collaborate in the studio? Can you share some insights into your creative dynamic and how it influenced the making of “Forum”?  And how different is it for both of you compared to your respective solo-projects?

Passenger A&S: Usually, we meet up weekly in the Underground Studio and work on no matter what upcoming release. There is never any pressure, but once someone holds the final result, he or she can be sure that everything is meticulously planned to the hilt, from every little stroke of art to the very last second of every song. But we never follow the same pattern or path; nor for music nor for art, and the further we can step outside of the box the more we like it!  The solo-projects are clearly without the influences of the other Passenger and music wise, although both electronic, it is very different for 90% (some things are in our DNA and we cannot ignore it. But that feels natural after working together for more than 30 years). The biggest difference is that the synthpop from 808 DOT POP (Passenger S) is built around concepts and more sequence based, whereas LECTREAU (Passenger A) works in singles only and aims for the club floors. The mutual aspect is electronics; that will remain a fact, no matter what.

Side-Line also covered Metroland’s ‘Cooperation’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Out now via Metropolis Records is the first single from the upcoming solo debut “Model Kollapse” by Bill Leeb: “Terror Forms”. The single features Shannon Hemmett of Actors.

Below is the video for the single.

“Model Kollapse” will be out on September 13th via Metropolis Records. The 11-track album “Model Kollapse” comes in two versions, a CD in digipak and a thick 16 pages booklet, and as a limited bleach effect double vinyl. The vinyl is limited to 500 copies and comes in extra heavy gatefold sleeve with seperate printed inner sleeves.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Out on September 13th via Metropolis Records is the first all solo album from Bill Leeb, titled “Model Kollapse”. The 11-track album “Model Kollapse” comes in two versions, a CD in digipak and a thick 16 pages booklet, and as a limited bleach effect double vinyl. The vinyl is limited to 500 copies and comes in extra heavy gatefold sleeve with seperate printed inner sleeves.

The first single “Terror Forms” features Shannon Hemmett of Actors and Leathers and will be out on July 9.

The album was recorded and produced in Vancouver, Toronto and Los Angeles with assistance provided by production duo Dream Bullet and long-term Front Line Assembly / Delerium cohort Rhys Fulber, plus regular mixing engineer Greg Reely.

Two tracks on the album feature Shannon and Jason from Canadian Electropop act Actors and one track has American singer-songwriter Mimi Page, who already collaborated with Bill on his Delerium project.

Tracks: Read the review of ‘Model Kollapse’.

1. Demons
2. Exotic Matter
3. Neuromotive
4. Folded Hands
5. Pinned Down
6. Terror Forms (feat. Actors)
7. Muted Obsession (feat. Actors)
8. Simulation
9. Infernum
10. Fusion
11. Erosion through Time (feat. Mimi Page)

About Bill Leeb

Bill Leeb is a Vancouver-based Canadian industrial musician, founder of Front Line Assembly, formed in 1986 after he left Skinny Puppy, and co-founder, with longtime collaborator Rhys Fulber, of the ambient project Delerium, begun in 1987. Despite decades of output across those projects, Leeb had not released a solo album under his own name until “Model Kollapse,” issued 13 September 2024 on CD, vinyl and digitally through Metropolis Records.

“Model Kollapse” was recorded across Vancouver, Toronto and Los Angeles, with production assistance from the duo Dream Bullet and Rhys Fulber, and mixing by longtime engineer Greg Reely. Guest contributors include Mimi Page, Jason Corbett of Actors and Shannon Hemmett of Actors and Leathers. The eleven-track album’s title and themes reference model collapse, the phenomenon in which AI models trained on synthetic data degrade over successive generations. “Model Kollapse” is Bill Leeb’s first release under his own name, separate from his work in Front Line Assembly and Delerium.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Bobby Talamine) Metropolis Records announces the signing of industrial-electronic Vancouver-based music legend Bill Leeb for his debut solo effort “Model Kollapse”, out September 13.

“The album explores the intricacies of artificial intelligence and the survival of humanity itself,” says Bill Leeb.

The first single “Terror Forms” features Shannon Hemmett of Actors and Leathers and will be out on July 9. This album also involves Front Line Assembly / Delerium cohort Rhys Fulber, mixing engineer Greg Reely, Actors’ frontman Jason Corbett, and LA artist Mimi Page.

“We are proud to announce that Metropolis Records has signed Bill Leeb for his first solo project. Bill Leeb has had a prolific career as a founding member of Skinny Puppy, Front Line Assembly and Delerium. His music has been highly influential, and we are excited to see what this new chapter in his career will bring for him and his listeners,” says Nina Heckman of Metropolis Records. “I’m honored to fulfill my father’s (Dave Heckman who died in the summer of 2022) lifelong vision and to be doing this project with a lifelong family friend I can honestly call family (Bill Leeb). This project is near and dear to all of our hearts here at Metropolis and I know it would make my father proud.”

“Model Kollapse” marks Leeb’s very first solo venture since the mid-80s days of Front Line Assembly, when he used to make recordings in his bedroom and released them on limited edition cassette format. Almost four decades on, his new album was recorded and produced in Vancouver, Toronto and Los Angeles with assistance from Vancouver/Toronto-based production duo Dream Bullet.

The “Terror Forms” single will be unleashed digitally everywhere on July 9. The full “Model Kollapse” album will be released on vinyl and CD, as well as digitally, on September 13.

About Bill Leeb

Bill Leeb, born Wilhelm Anton Leeb on September 21, 1966, in Vienna, Austria, is best known as the founder and lead member of the industrial music group Front Line Assembly (FLA). Leeb moved to Canada in the 1980s, where he began his music career.

Before forming Front Line Assembly in 1986, Leeb was a member of the influential industrial group Skinny Puppy, where he performed under the pseudonym Wilhelm Schroeder. His departure from Skinny Puppy marked the beginning of his career with Front Line Assembly.

In addition to Front Line Assembly, Leeb has been involved in several other music projects, including Delerium, which achieved commercial success with its fusion of ambient and pop music elements. Leeb’s other projects include Noise Unit, Intermix, and Conjure One, each exploring different facets of electronic music.

Bill Leeb discography

Bill Leeb has had a diverse range of musical projects, each with its own unique style and sound. Here’s an easy-to-read breakdown of the differences between his major projects:

Front Line Assembly (FLA) is characterized by a dark and aggressive style, blending industrial, Electronic Body Music (EBM), and electro-industrial sounds. The music features heavy use of synthesizers and electronic beats, often exploring dystopian and sci-fi themes.

Delerium, on the other hand, focuses on ambient, ethereal, and electronic music with a new age twist. Its sound is soothing and atmospheric, emphasizing melodies and textures. Delerium often incorporates world music elements and features various guest vocalists, achieving mainstream success with tracks like “Silence” featuring Sarah McLachlan.

Noise Unit features a mix of industrial, EBM, and techno influences. Over time, the project’s sound has varied, combining harsh industrial elements with more danceable EBM and techno beats. Collaborations with artists like Marc Verhaeghen of Klinik add to its diverse range of styles.

Intermix leans more towards techno, ambient, and electronic music. This project focuses on instrumental tracks, blending electronic and ambient music with techno rhythms. It is generally less aggressive than Front Line Assembly.

Conjure One presents a melodic and ethereal sound, incorporating ambient, electronic, world music, and pop influences. It features prominent guest vocalists and offers polished production with a radio-friendly appeal, blending electronic beats with organic instruments.

Cyberaktif, a collaboration with cEvin Key of Skinny Puppy, delivers a dark and experimental sound. Combining the signature styles of Front Line Assembly and Skinny Puppy, Cyberaktif features heavy use of samples and aggressive beats, resulting in a dense, experimental industrial sound.

Equinox focuses on ambient and atmospheric soundscapes, similar to early Delerium works but more abstract and experimental. It emphasizes creating immersive sound environments with a minimalistic approach.

Pro>Tech is a dance-oriented project with techno and trance influences. It features high-energy beats and repetitive, hypnotic structures, offering a clear departure from the darker styles of Leeb’s other projects, aiming for a more mainstream dance music appeal.

Below are the releases.

Front Line Assembly

• The Initial Command (1987)
• State of Mind (1988)
• Gashed Senses & Crossfire (1989)
• Caustic Grip (1990)
• Tactical Neural Implant (1992)
• Millennium (1994)
• Hard Wired (1995)
• FLAvour of the Weak (1997)
• Implode (1999)
• Epitaph (2001)
• Civilization (2004)
• Artificial Soldier (2006)
• Improvised. Electronic. Device. (2010)
• Echogenetic (2013)
• Wake Up the Coma (2019)
• Mechanical Soul (2021)

Delerium

• Faces, Forms & Illusions (1989)
• Morpheus (1989)
• Syrophenikan (1990)
• Spiritual Archives (1991)
• Stone Tower (1991)
• Spheres (1994)
• Spheres 2 (1994)
• Semantic Spaces (1994)
• Karma (1997)
• Poem (2000)
• Chimera (2003)
• Nuages du Monde (2006)
• Music Box Opera (2012)
• Mythologie (2016)

Noise Unit

• Grinding into Emptiness (1989)
• Response Frequency (1990)
• Strategy of Violence (1992)
• Decoder (1995)
• Drill (1996)
• Voyeur (1998)
• Dead Sector (1999)
• Deviator (2021)

Intermix

• Intermix (1992)
• Phaze Two (1993)
• Future Primitives (1995)

Conjure One

• Conjure One (2002)
• Extraordinary Ways (2005)
• Exilarch (2010)
• Holoscenic (2015)
• Innovation Zero (2023)

Cyberaktif

• Tenebrae Vision (1991)
• Temper (EP) (1990)

Equinox

• Holon (1998)

Pro>Tech

• Orbiting Cathedrals (1997)

Side-Line also covered Front Line Assembly’s ‘Molotov (Remixed)’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Electronic, Dark-Pop, Industrial.

Format: Digital, CD.

Background/Info: One year after the last album (cf. “R.O.T.T. (inmyskin)”  Lynette Cerezo strikes back with a new opus of her Bestial Mouths sonic project. This work features seventeen remixes.

Content: Because of the remixes this album is diversified and brings multiple influences together. It sounds definitely Electronic but still evasive, Dark-Pop driven and with an extra, Industrial and bombastic touch on top. Some parts are even evolving towards a transcendental journey. Sometimes danceable and later on dreamy the album is filled with surprises. Remixes have been accomplished by Broken English Club, Actors, Rebeka Warrior, Curses, XTR Human, Modern Men, IV Horsemen, Crune, Carrelle, Daniel Myer, Trace Amount, Gencab, Maduro, Orphx, Snowbeats, Lana Del rabies and Bedless Bones. 

+ + + : I always have reservations about albums filled with remixes. This work however comes as a cool addendum to the last year released album “R.O.T.T. (inmyskin). I like the mysticism running through the excellent opening piece “Vast Murmur” remixed by Broken English Club, the uplifting effect emerging from “Slitskin” remixed by XTR Human and the remix of “Hex” by Snowbeasts. Diversity is the main strength of this work.

– – – : Seventeen remixes is quite a lot when there are a few uninspired pieces included. I expected a bit more from Daniel Myer and Bedless Bones to mention a few.

Conclusion: Not bad at all but I prefer the original work of Bestial Mouths instead of remixes by other artists.

Best songs: “Hex – Snowbeasts Remix”,“Vast Murmur – Broken English Club Remix”, “Slitskin – XTR Human Remix”, “Slitskin – Orphx Remix”, “Only dEad Fish – IV Horsemen Remix”.

Rate: 7.

Artist: www.bestialmouths.com / www.facebook.com/BESTIALMOUTHS

Label: www.negativegain.com / www.facebook.com/NegativeGain Read the news on ‘Backbone’.

About Bestial Mouths

Bestial Mouths is the Sacramento, California-based project led by Lynette Cerezo, who has remained the group’s constant across several line-up changes since its founding. The 2019 EP “Inshroudss” was the first release written and conceived entirely by Cerezo. The sixth studio album, “R.O.T.T. (inmyskin)“, followed the 2020 release “Resurrectedinblack” and was produced by Rhys Fulber (Front Line Assembly, Delerium); its title track drew on Cerezo’s ancestry and the Trail of Tears. The remix set “Backbone” gathers seventeen reworkings of that album by artists including Broken English Club, Actors and Daniel Myer.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

(Photo by Elemental Eyes Photography) Negative Gain Productions recording artists Bestial Mouths have an all new remix album, “Backbone”, out tomorrow. But you can already stream it exclusively via Side-Line today.

The release is the follow-up (or rather companion) to their latest LP, “R.O.T.T.(inmyskin)” and offers reworks mixing darkwave-industrial with synthpop elements. The remixes were executed by Broken English Club, Actors, Rebeka Warrior, Curses, XTR Human, Modern Men, Lana Del Rabies, IV Horsemen, Crune, Orphx, GenCAB, Trace Amount, Carrellee, Daniel Myer, Maduro, Snowbeasts and Bedless Bones.

“Backbone” will be available tomorrow on all major digital platforms including Spotify and Bandcamp. Stream the full release below.

Fronted by Lynette Cerezo the band formed in 2009 and has mixed a number of elements in their work, from goth, industrial, post-punk, New Wave, noise, metal, to other underground sounds using live acoustic and electronic drums and analog synthesizers.

In their decade-plus existence, the band has worked with myriad of producers and artists including Zola Jesus, Mick Harvey, Rhys Fulber, Egyptrixx, Boy Harsher, Die Krupps, Mater Suspiria Vision, Zanias, The Horrorist, and Ludovico Technique to name but a few.

Here’s the video for the genCAB remix of “iNNARDS”. Read the review of ‘Backbone’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Celebrating its 30th year, Audioglobe, the most important distributor in the darkwave scene, just shared a statistical review, revealing the shifts and trends in the darkwave (and related) music genre.

Our readers will surely remember that we have reported on these stats for years, until 2018, the first year that Audioglobe didn’t communicate these stats. Sebastian Koch from Audioglobe explains: “Some customers never really cared that much about these, as they have better things to do than reading boring mails from the undersigned. But… Surprisingly there are quite a high number of customers, that sort of ‘complained’ about the fact, that no stats were being done any longer… The reason is: I was simply always far too busy in past years. Anyway: Here we go with the first new stats since 2017!”

So here are some export facts.

Top 10 Bestselling Labels of 2023 (export)

1. FABRIKA/DEAD SCARLET
   • She Past Away, Lebanon Hanover, Selofan, Kaelan Mikla, M!R!M, Doric…
2. METROPOLIS
   • Birthday Massacre, Delerium, Front Line Assembly, A Projection, KMFDM, Legendary P.D…
3. ICY COLD/MANIC DEPR.
   • Twin Tribes, Je T’aime, Traitrs, Kill Shelter, Closed Mouth, Talk to Her, Schonwald…
4. ALFA MATRIX
   • Alien Vampires, Front 242, Metroland, Die Robo Sapiens, Elm, 808 Dot Pop, Helalyn Flowers…
5. RUSTBLADE
   • Claudio Simonetti, Ennio Morricone, Lycia Lunch, Spiritual Front, Ketvector, Legendary Pink D…
6. OUT OF LINE
   • Blutengel, Hocico, Solitary Experiments, Suicide Commando, Signal Aout42, Erdling…
7. TRISOL
   • Sopor Aeternus, Rome, Clan of Xymox, Asp, Ostara, Skinflicks, Nachtmahr, Mantus, Soman…
8. DEPENDENT
   • Kirlian Camera, Girls Under Glass, Spectra*Paris, Mildreda, Black Nail Cabaret, Beborn Beton…
9. ARTOFFACT
   • Actors, Noise Unit, cEvin Key, Kaelan Mikla, Ploho, Sacred Skin, Kauan, Ken Mode, Spectres…
10. AUERBACH
    • Spiritual Front, Sol Invictus, Tenhi, Moon and the Night Spirit, Haavard, Hekate, Orplid…

Best Export Territories of 2023

If we look at the Audioglobe stats, we notice that Germany and Greece remain the company’s strongest markets, continuing a trend that has been consistent for ages. However, the 2023 statistics reveal some notable shifts.

Canada, once a prominent market for Audioglobe, has surprisingly disappeared from the export landscape. In contrast, the United States and the United Kingdom have re-emerged as significant territories, marking their return to prominence in the darkwave music scene after several years.

The most unexpected development in 2023 is the rise of Australia as a key market. This growth stands in stark contrast to Switzerland, which, despite its affluence, has seen a sharp decline in sales. Sebastian Koch adds: “The (by far!) lowest sales of all countries where we export to, was to Switzerland… The rich Swiss don’t buy records! Since I left the country (1990), something is wrong back home!”

Here is the top 10 list of export territories:

1. Germany
2. Greece
3. Netherlands
4. Portugal
5. USA
6. United Kingdom
7. Australia
8. Spain
9. Russia
10. Poland

Not in the top 10, but France, Japan, Malta, Brazil, Sweden, Mexico, and Perù are also good export territories for Audioglobe.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The NYC-based post-punk outfit Black Rose Burning presents “Ad Astra”, the title track from their third album, along with a new sci-fi video, which they announced as follows: “We travel into the microverse. We leave a dying planet there. We discover a new place to live. We’re the light that shines amongst the stars at night… Love Won, Love Lost and Outer Space.”

As with their previous album “The Wheel”, this album was mastered by Actors’ own Jason Corbett at Jacknife Sound. Earlier, the band released the singles “Fight!”, “Night Terrors” and “Sing to Me”. “Ad Astra” was recorded in George’s own studio, PV Recording Company, which has hosted notable artists over the years, including Emelio Zeff China (Peter Murphy), Knox Chandler (Siouxsie And The Banshees), Chibi (The Birthday Party Massacre), Nellie McKay, Julia Marcel, Paul Bakija (Reagan Youth), Ego Likeness and Voltaire (with whom Grant also played bass for 10 years).

Formed in 2018 by instrumentalist, producer and engineer George Grant, Black Rose Burning also involves guitarist Frank Morin (World Inferno Friendship Society) and drummer Luis Infantas (Monster Zero).

Grant explains, “I was always intrigued by the Latin phrase Ad Astra Per Aspera (to the stars with difficulty) – even when I was a kid. I have also spent a great amount of time in my life pondering a question – why are we all fighting and destroying the planet earth instead of reaching for the stars together? The way mankind is at this moment in history, I’m not even sure we deserve the greater universe. I’m hopeful that one day we will”.

And he adds: “’Ad Astra’ is the result of the real first time collaboration of the musicians who have been playing with my project in a live setting and myself. On previous records, I recorded them solo – playing and programming all of the instruments. It only made sense to take it to a whole new level by taking a slight back seat and letting the fantastic musical brains I have surrounded myself with, to step into some spotlight and show their talent. Sonically it’s a major leap forward in the ever-growing sound of Black Rose Burning in every way. Letting experts do what they do has resulted in – a lush soundscape that’s better than I could have ever hoped for. And even though I again wrote all the material, having partners who understand my vision is both invaluable and awe inspiring.

Lyrically, I approached this record, from the standpoint of my pseudo-motto ”Love Won, Love Lost and Outer Space”. Interlaced with technical and futuristic themes are also stories of broken hearts, broken dreams as well as songs about hope. I quite honestly took my love, as an avid Sci-Fi fan, and poured it into quite a few of these songs and into the overall feel of the record. But don’t get me wrong – there’s plenty of both love and heartbreak written into it as well. The artwork by Antonella at Eshmoon DM brilliantly reflects the feel also – from the colors to the design and the themes – of my infatuation with Science Fiction.”

The ‘Ad Astra’ album is out now, available on CD and also digitally from fine music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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As the first single from their new album “Pan/Dora”, the industrial rockers from Serbia, dreDDup, present the song “Clark Can’t”. This song will be one of the 10 completely new songs recorded in parallel for the album.

The video for “Clark Can’t” was created by director Mihajlo Obrenov with the help of various AI technology tools.

Mihajlo describes his technique as follows: “This is an AI video, and it’s the first time I’ve worked with this technology. It wasn’t easy at all, even though most people think it’s just a few clicks and it’s done. It took me three months of daily work and a lot of nerves. While most creators rushed to announce and create AI videos that, in my opinion, look slightly better than an animated GIF and clumsy stop motion, I patiently and carefully studied the technology, found companies that offer various tools, read and watched everything on the subject, and impatiently waited for the AI to advance to the point where I could personally convey my idea to it and it could actually understand it. I waited for the level where it could really look as it should and the video wasn’t pixelated and in a poor frame rate. Only recently have camera movements, lighting, plans, angles, working with ‘actors’, and everything I was educated for and can professionally explain come into play.”

The band also announced that there will soon be more new singles and videos, and there are plans to shoot a few more videos for some of their older songs.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Shane K. Gardner) The NYC-based new romantic post-punks Black Rose Burning release their new “Ad Astra” album.

“Ad Astra” was recorded in George’s own studio, PV Recording Company, which has hosted notable artists over the years, including Emelio Zeff China (Peter Murphy), Knox Chandler (Siouxsie And The Banshees), Chibi (The Birthday Party Massacre), Nellie McKay, Julia Marcel, Paul Bakija (Reagan Youth), Ego Likeness and Voltaire (with whom Grant also played bass for 10 years).

The “Ad Astra” album is available on CD and also digitally from all music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music and Bandcamp. Also included in that album is their latest single “Fight!”. The album was mastered by Jason Corbett of Actors at Jacknife Sound. Earlier, the band released the singles “Night Terrors” and “Sing to Me (E.L.E.)”.

Black Rose Burning was formed in 2018 by instrumentalist, producer and engineer George Grant. The project also features guitarist Frank Morin (World Inferno Friendship Society) and drummer Luis Infantas (Monster Zero).

“’Ad Astra’ is the result of the real first-time collaboration of the musicians who have been playing with my project in a live setting and myself. On previous records, I recorded them solo – playing and programming all of the instruments. It only made sense to take it to a whole new level by taking a slight back seat and letting the fantastic musical brains I have surrounded myself with, to step into some spotlight and show their talent. Sonically it’s a major leap forward in the ever-growing sound of Black Rose Burning in every way. Letting experts do what they do has resulted in – a lush soundscape that’s better than I could have ever hoped for. And even though I again wrote all the material, having partners who understand my vision is both invaluable and awe-inspiring,” says George Grant.

“Lyrically, I approached this record, from the standpoint of my pseudo-motto ”Love Won, Love Lost and Outer Space”. Interlaced with technical and futuristic themes are also stories of broken hearts, broken dreams as well as songs about hope. I quite honestly took my love, as an avid Sci-Fi fan, and poured it into quite a few of these songs and into the overall feel of the record. But don’t get me wrong – there’s plenty of both love and heartbreak written into it as well. The artwork by Antonella at Eshmoon DM brilliantly reflects the feel also – from the colours to the design and the themes – of my infatuation with Science Fiction.”

In 2021, Black Rose Burning released their second album “The Wheel”, one year after debuting “The Year of the Scorpion” album. You can view some of their older work below.

Here are a few dates to see the band live at work.

• Oct 6 – Tampa, FL at Crobar (Absolution Fest)
• Oct 13 – Richmond, VA at Fallout w/ Empathy Test

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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The German electropop act Digital Factor will release the videoclip of “Ouvre”, the title track of their brand new EP with the same name, on September 14. The EP is the second single from Digital Factor’s album “G.B.A. General Behavior Abrogate”, which will be released on October 27th.

Hit the notify button below to be informed when the video goes live.

2023 marks the 30th anniversary of the German electropop act Digital Factor. For the occasion, Mike Langer decided to make his new studio album “G.B.A.-General Behavior Abrogate” a very special release in many ways.

But before that we first get the EP “Ouvre”, the second single taken from the forthcoming conceptual album and featuring Manuel Kressin on vocals. In addition to the 3 different versions of the title-song (with the “Berlin” and “Van Wijk” remixes), you also get a 3rd album song with the synth pop cut “Your Echo” in its exclusive “JFlash” mix version by Andy Drabek.

You can get the EP right now from Bandcamp where it is available as an immediate download. All proceedings go to charity, the same goes for the complete album. A gesture that is seldom these days!

The new studio album “G.B.A.-General Behavior Abrogate” will be a charity project where all proceeds will be donated to Kinderstiftung Altenburg, a foundation for disadvantaged children, “bringing back some humanity to our crazy world and reminding all of us that music is a perfect media to set up connection and bring us all together.”

Mike Langer also took the challenge to collaborate on each new song with a different local artist from his hometown of Altenburg (Germany) giving to this new album a very eclectic and collaborative dimension. “As a musician, you always tend to say that the current album is THE special album. (laugh) But the current work with numerous musicians from my hometown, all embracing my musical style, is truly something special”, explains the German artist.

Note that one of the songs, namely the opening track “Take Me To The Limit”, features none other than Digital Factor’s founding member Torsten Heise.

Mike Langer who works in both music and film for theater productions, also recorded two songs together with two fellow actors: Manuel Kressin (for “Ouvre”) and Manuel Struffolino (“Change It”). Mike Langer’s daughter Josephine can also be heard on one of the songs, as well as guitarist and bassist Georg Kostron, who once again contributed to the album.

Pre-orders for the new album are available via the Alfa Matrix webstore on CD and via Bandcamp as download.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Kevin Condon/WeirdHours) Fresh off of tour runs in Europe and North America with The Sisters of Mercy, Clan of Xymox, and Then Comes Silence respectively, Metropolis welcomes Brooklyn’s A Cloud of Ravens to the Metropolis Records family. Side-Line covered this band several times already.

Singer/guitarist Matt McIntosh and bassist Beth Narducci formed A Cloud of Ravens in the autumn of 2018. The 2021 full-length album “Another Kind of Midnight” was their breakthrough release merging classic and contemporary post-punk and darkwave. A remix EP followed, featuring reimagined tracks by artists such as Actors, Clan of Xymox, Chris Vrenna, John Fryer, and Ritual Howls.

A Cloud of Ravens’ most recent album “Lost Hymns” was released by Schubert Music Europe’s Nexilis imprint, and is now being brought to North American audiences by Metropolis Records in its original form on all digital platforms. Expect an extended version of the album with bonus remixes and a new exclusive track from Metropolis in the coming months.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

2023 marks the 30th anniversary of the German electropop act Digital Factor. For the occasion, Mike Langer decided to make his new studio album “G.B.A.-General Behavior Abrogate” a very special release in many ways.

But before that we first get the EP “Ouvre”, the second single taken from the forthcoming conceptual album and featuring Manuel Kressin on vocals. In addition to the 3 different versions of the title-song (with the “Berlin” and “Van Wijk” remixes), you also get a 3rd album song with the synth pop cut “Your Echo” in its exclusive “JFlash” mix version by Andy Drabek.

You can get the EP right now from Bandcamp where it is available as an immediate download. All proceedings go to charity, the same goes for the complete album. A gesture that is seldom these days!

The new studio album “G.B.A.-General Behavior Abrogate” will be a charity project where all proceeds will be donated to Kinderstiftung Altenburg, a foundation for disadvantaged children, “bringing back some humanity to our crazy world and reminding all of us that music is a perfect media to set up connection and bring us all together.”

Mike Langer also took the challenge to collaborate on each new song with a different local artist from his hometown of Altenburg (Germany) giving to this new album a very eclectic and collaborative dimension. “As a musician, you always tend to say that the current album is THE special album. (laugh) But the current work with numerous musicians from my hometown, all embracing my musical style, is truly something special”, explains the German artist.

Note that one of the songs, namely the opening track “Take Me To The Limit”, features none other than Digital Factor’s founding member Torsten Heise.

Mike Langer who works in both music and film for theater productions, also recorded two songs together with two fellow actors: Manuel Kressin (for “Ouvre”) and Manuel Struffolino (“Change It”). Mike Langer’s daughter Josephine can also be heard on one of the songs, as well as guitarist and bassist Georg Kostron, who once again contributed to the album.

Pre-orders for the new album are available via the Alfa Matrix webstore on CD and via Bandcamp as download.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Shane K. Gardner) The post-punk ensemble Black Rose Burning, hailing from New York City, unveils their latest single “Fight!”, a song from their third studio album “Ad Astra”. Previously, the band launched the singles “Night Terrors” and “Sing to Me (E.L.E.)”.

Established in 2018 by the instrumentalist, producer, and engineer George Grant, Black Rose Burning also collaborates with guitarist Frank Morin (World Inferno Friendship Society) and drummer Luis Infantas (Monster Zero).

This latest single before the unveiling of the full “Ad Astra” album, “Fight!”, is penned from the perspective of an individual discontented with their romantic partner or relationship, and, as described by lead vocalist George Grant, they’ve essentially resigned but, for various reasons, find it difficult or impossible to conclude the relationship. “Ad Astra” underwent mastering by Jason Corbett of Actors at Jacknife Sound.

In 2021, Black Rose Burning introduced their second album, “The Wheel”, following their debut “The Year of the Scorpion” album a year earlier. “Ad Astra” was captured in George’s personal studio, PV Recording Company, which has, rather fortuitously, welcomed numerous artists connected to the scene over the years, including Emelio Zeff China (Peter Murphy), Knox Chandler (Siouxsie And The Banshees), Chibi (The Birthday Party Massacre), Nellie McKay, Julia Marcel, Paul Bakija (Reagan Youth), Ego Likeness, and Voltaire (with whom Grant also spent a decade playing bass).

“Fight!” is currently available exclusively on Bandcamp. The “Ad Astra” album is set for release on 15th September on CD and will also be digitally accessible across various music platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, and Bandcamp. On that very evening, Black Rose Burning will host their album launch event at NYC’s Mercury Lounge for The Red Party.

Tour dates

• Thu, Oct 5th – Raleigh, NC @ Ruby Deluxe
• Fri, Oct 6th – Tampa, FL @Crobar for Absolution Fest
• Sat, Oct. 7th – TBC
• Sun, Oct 8th – Louisville, KE @ Art Sanctuary
• Tue, Oct 10th – Indianapolis, IN @ The Black Circle
• Wed, Oct 11th – Chicago, IL @ Be Afraid Of The Dark Fest
• Thu, Oct 12th – Pittsburgh, PA @ Cattivo (with Visceral Anatomy)
• Fri, Oct 13th – Richmond, VA @Fallout w/ Empathy Test
• Sat, Oct 14th – Wilmington, DE @ Bar XIII (TBC)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Set up in 2014 by Leipziger (Germany) duo Andreas Engleitner (vocals) and  Bastian Polak (machines) Intent:Outtake this year released their fifth full length album. It’s their second opus released by Scanner / Dark Dimensions. “Der Stille Tod” is mixing Dark-Electronics and EBM but it first of all is an intelligent album composed by a band with an own sound and approach while they’re dealing with serious, social, topics. I’d a chat with both members.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: “Der Stille Tod” is your fifth album to date. What have been the triggers and sources of inspiration to compose this album? And in which way did you’d to adapt yourself in the production of the work because of Covid-19?

Bastian: As with our previous albums, we were again inspired by what is happening in the world. Every day we see how mankind abolishes itself piece by piece, oppresses itself and annihilates itself. Be it the stupidity of the media, or the power of our elites. We want to push our listeners to think and open their eyes. This is our contribution to making the world a little better. Covid-19 really slowed us down, because we felt we could not perform for 2 years and couldn’t carry our message to the world. But it also gave us time to think and be creative.

Andreas: There is little to add to this, apart from the fact that, in my opinion, social problems have increased quite sharply during and after Covid-19. Other opinions are no longer tolerated. The division of society is advancing. In the meantime you actually have to analyze every word carefully before you pronounce it, so that you don’t get put in a drawer that you don’t want to get into.

Q: Can you give us more details about the writing- and the sound creation of the album? Was there something like a plan and/or specific aspects you wanted to achieve?

Bastian: There’s never a plan, but the themes usually revolve around society and the system that tries to shape us. I usually get the demo songs from Andreas and let the mood of the songs guide me. We always try to take the listener on a journey to our worries and fears. But we also talk a lot about solidarity and courage.

Andreas: As Bastian has already said, I compose the songs and send him the demos for which he writes the lyrics. For some songs the lyrics are also written by me. On the last album there were three songs I wrote the lyrics for. With these songs I usually already have a singing melody in my mind.

Q: The title of the album but also its front cover are quite explicit. What did you try to express and what does it reveal about your perception of the world and times we’re living in?

Bastian: I think we live in a world where the poor get poorer and the rich keep getting richer. Where great powers get more and more powerful and we are exploiting our planet more and more. I’m afraid of all these changes and I’m afraid of the future and a third world war. That’s the reason for the album title “Der Stille Tod” (German for “The Silent Death“). It has two meanings: 1. That death comes quietly to us bit by bit. 2. That it is the death of silence and nothing remains when you pass away (except the sound).

Andreas: Mankind is not created for peace or for harmonious coexistence. We encounter this gloomy realization every day when we look at world events, and often even in our immediate surroundings. The computation and the supposed intelligence make humans a very dangerous species. Mostly for themselves. It sounds bitter, but a walk through the world with open eyes shows very quickly that there isn’t much hope.

Q: The song “Tic Toc Tod” must be your biggest hit so far but also a track revealing interesting lyrics dealing about social media. Considering social media often are artist’s ‘best friends’, how do you experience the evolution of social media and its users?

Bastian: I think we live in a time of self-actors. Everyone wants to be the most beautiful and the best. But we forget the one essential thing in the world. Love. It scares me how we’re silently staring at our displays like zombies and how the world around us is lost. But maybe it’s just what’s wanted.

Andreas: “Tic Toc Tod” is one of the songs that I wrote including the lyrics. Social media is both a curse and a blessing. For artists and many other professions, it has never been easier to reach people, which in my opinion is a great advantage. However, it has never been so easy for level-headed people to spread their stupidity and earn money. Uninhibited and unashamed, these influencers drop their mental and sometimes also physical shells. In addition, there are the people who look at this dirt and with their clicks provide ample supply in this area. Anyone can get rich, the message is that simple. It becomes dangerous because it is human nature to be more successful and better than others. You want to outdo others. So the content of many influencers will not gain in quality, but will plunge into the bottomless.

Q: You recently achieved a small tour in Germany so how did the audience react to the new songs? And tell us a bit more about the preparation of live shows and how do you transpose the songs from the studio to the stage?

Bastian: Yes, our little tour was a complete success. You just notice that people have missed going to concerts again and our new songs were very well received. Playing live is of course always something special, especially if you had to pause for 2 years. We always try to offer our fans something visual. That’s why there’s always something for the eye at our concerts. Light and video shows, fog cannons and stage decorations tailored to our lyrics.

Q: Are you already working on new songs and what brings the nearly future considering remixes, singles/EP’s, eventually new clips and live performances?

Bastian: Personally, I am always working on some lyrics and soon we will work on new things for Intent:Outtake. After such an album production and tour, I always have to gather myself a bit and recharge my batteries. We played a big festival in Germany (Mera Luna) and in November we’re going to Finland. We really hope to be able to play in the U.S., but there are plans already. So stay tuned!

Andreas: I almost always have ideas for songs or melodies. I get these ideas in my everyday life and I have to capture them. I then pick them up in a production. Yes, of course it will continue. Precise information on releases is not available yet, but we keep working. As Bastian says, we will be playing at three festivals this year, the Mera Luna, the Hellsinki Industrial Festival and the Dark Storm in Chemnitz for Christmas. Next year we want to play a few shows abroad

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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The new single from London-based synthpop outfit Magnetic Skies, “Suffocate”, is out today via ReprinT Records. The single follows the band’s previous single “You Shine On” and is a teaser for Magnetic Skies’ debut album “Empire Falling” which is set for release in autumn 2023.

Lead singer Simon Kent explains the track: “The song is about a relationship that breaks down. At the start, everything is incredible and you throw yourself head-first into that and nothing else matters, you just want this dream to come true. Then things change, reality sets in and everything around that falls apart to devastating effect. We wanted a dark, agitated, claustrophobic video – devoid of colour – to complement the emotions in the song.”

You can check out the black-and-white video right below.

Magnetic Skies was formed in 2019 by Simon Kent (vocals & keyboards) and Jo Womar (keyboards). The duo spent most of that first year locked away in studios, experimenting with material that would evolve into songs released over a set of EPs during 2020. “Dreams And Memories”, “Hold On” and “Into Paradise” all set the tone and showcased the duo’s love for vintage analogue synths and pumping basses. 2021 saw the band evolve into a 4-piece, with the recruitment of guitarist Carlos Aguilar and drummer Lenin Alegria. Both are featured on the new recordings.

2022 saw the band supporting Altered Images, Heaven 17 and ACTORS, as well as releasing five more singles – including a collaboration with The KVB.

You can catch the band live at the following dates:

• Sun 21st May 2023 – Concorde 2, Brighton (supporting Heaven 17)
• Sat 30th Sep 2023 – The Railway Inn, Winchester (supporting Just Radiohead)

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Mick Harvey and Amanda Acevedo have unveiled the latest track from their upcoming collaborative album, “Phantasmagoria in Blue”, set for release on Mute in vinyl, CD, and digital formats on 1 September 2023. Their new rendition of “Love is a Battlefield” slows down the tempo of Pat Benatar’s classic 1983 hit.

Mick explains how the idea for the cover came about: “A friend, Emma Pursey, suggested a version of ‘Love is a Battlefield’ for an independent production of Sam Shepard’s play ‘Fool for Love’ she was working on. The idea of adapting it into a duet with a country-style arrangement immediately made sense, especially given the verse lyrics, which are often overlooked in Pat Benatar’s version. Although it wasn’t ultimately used in the play, the idea of recording the song stuck with me, so I brought it to Amanda for our project.”

Amanda continues, “At first, I wasn’t sure if Mick was serious about the song, as it was quite different from the other tracks we were working on. However, once we started developing it together, it became clear that it could be one of the strongest pieces on our album.”

Amanda, a Mexican singer and filmmaker, created the video for the track, drawing inspiration from Emma and the play: “I filmed my parts in the iconic and historic venue ‘Cineteca Alameda’ in San Luis Potosí, which serves as a cultural centre. I thought it would be fun to have Mick projected on the screen, with both of us narrating the story as two actors embody the song’s lyrics during a supposed play rehearsal. The video merges various realities into one dreamlike state or hallucination, with the location and timeline becoming slightly distorted. I’m delighted with the outcome and am excited to see what people think.”

“Phantasmagoria in Blue” is a 14-track album featuring duets between Harvey and Acevedo. They breathe new life into existing duets, reinterpret songs not originally intended as duets, translate songs from Spanish, and include songs sung in Spanish, as well as some original compositions. The album delves into timeless themes such as mortality, love, and humanity’s quest for meaning while embracing the enigmatic and mythical.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

NYC-based postpunk duo A Cloud of Ravens have released their new “Lost Hymns” album today, April 28, just days after kicking off their European tour with Swedish label-mates Then Comes Silence. Mastered by Actors’ Jason Corbett at Jacknife Sound studio, this collection of 11 tracks is released via Nexilis Records / Schubert Music Europe. The album was produced and mixed by Matthew McIntosh and Beth Narducci, and mastered by Jason Corbett at Jacknife Sound.

Following the April-May tour dates in Europe, A Cloud of Ravens will tour North American dates with Clan of Xymox and Curse Mackey in May-June.

Formed in 2018 by Matthew McIntosh (guitar and vocals) and Beth Narducci (bass guitar), the Brooklyn-based duo emerged on the burgeoning dark music scene with a series of self-released offerings that garnered attention that led to their 2021 album “Another Kind of Midnight”.

Below is the full album.

Tour dates

• Apr 29 Madrid, Spain – DarkMad *
• Apr 30 Madrid, Spain – DarkMad *
• May 05 Hannover, Germany – Subkultur *
• May 06 Liège, Belgium – Le Garage Creative Music *
• May 07 Liège, Belgium – Le Garage Creative Music *
• May 09 Hamburg, Germany – Headcrash *
• May 10 Hamburg, Germany – Bastard Club *
• May 11 Berlin, Germany – Wild at Heart *
• May 12 Antwerpen, Belgium – Fetish Café *
• May 13 Köln, Germany – Artheater *
• May 31 San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger **
• June 01 Houston, TX – Numbers Night Club **
• June 02 Austin, TX – Elysium Austin **
• June 03 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater **
• June 05 Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad **
• June 06 Denver, CO – Oriental Theater **
• June 07 Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Music Hall **
• June 09 Seattle, WA – El Corazon **
• June 10 Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theatre **
• June 11 Portland, OR – Star Theater **
• June 13 San Francisco, CA – August Hall **
• June 14 Costa Mesa, CA – The Wayfarer **
• June 15 San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick **
• June 16 Los Angeles, CA – Regent Theater DTLA **
• July 21 Meschede, Germany – Live Am See *

* tour dates with Then Comes Silence
** tour dates with Clan of Xymox & Curse Mackey

Previous videos

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Eliana Giaccheri) “The Heart of a Lover” is the second single from the Italian industrial darkwave act This Eternal Decay. The track is taken from their upcoming album, “Absolution”, set for release on May 19th, 2023. This dark synth ballad explores the concept of love as time passes, revealing how what once excited us can eventually become frightening.

“The Heart of a Lover” is available on all streaming and digital platforms from today, April 14, on. It features an Exfeind remix and an acoustic version of the track. And today Side-Line can exclusively reveal the all new video that will accompany the new single.

This non-traditional video showcases digital artwork created by Roman artist Alessandra Meneghello, also known as @disagire. The digital painting evolves in tandem with the song’s sounds, expressing the emotions woven into its sonic layers.

Watch the official video below.

This Eternal Decay, a group focused on industrial-dark-wave music, consists of members Ricardo Sabetti (Spiral69), Pasquale Vico (Date at Midnight), Andrea Freda (Spiritual Front), and Alessio Schiavi (Avant-Garde). Their sound is a fusion of romantic darkwave, industrial beats, and synthpop elements. Their first album, “I Choose an Eternity of This” (Trisol Music Group), garnered positive reviews.

In April 2020, the band launched their sophomore album, “Silence”, featuring collaborations with artists from Then Comes Silence and Theaters Des Vampires. Despite pandemic-related cancellations of several European tour dates, the album saw three repressings within its initial five months.

In June 2021, they released the maxi single “Leave”, accompanied by two Kurs Lestat remixes and an acoustic rendition of the track with Luigi Rubino (Ashram) on piano. Their third studio album, “Nocturne”, was released on January 7th, 2022, and included guest appearances from Hapax and Avant-Garde, as well as remixes by ACTORS, Ash Code, Wisborg, and A Copy for Collapse.

In October 2022, This Eternal Decay began their 15-date European NocTour. Throughout the year, they worked on their fourth studio album, titled “Absolution”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Editors note: We completely distance ourselves from the Russian band Ploho on this line-up. They have have done nothing to express their support for the Ukrainian people or to condemn the cruel and unwanted invasion in Ukraine, on the contrary. The organisors of the festival have been made aware of our view on this.

The Greek darkwave and post-punk music lovers are in for a treat as the Death Disco Athens Open Air Festival 2023 announces its line-up. Set to take place at the Technopolis City of Athens on Saturday, July 22 and Sunday, July 23, the two-day event will showcase 14 bands across two stages.

The festival opens on Saturday, July 22, with a diverse roster of acts, including VNV Nation, The Soft Moon, Selofan, Rue Oberkampf, Ploho, Kalte Nacht, and Youth Valley. On Sunday, July 23, the event continues with headliners The Sisters of Mercy, followed by performances from She Past Away, ACTORS, Absolute Body Control, Mecano Un-Ltd., Mechanimal, and Data Fragments.

Located at 100 Piraeus Street, the Technopolis City of Athens is easily accessible by metro, trolley, and bus. To reach the venue, festival-goers can take the Blue Line (Line 3) to the Kerameikos station, trolley No. 21 from Omonoia station to Fotaerio Stop, or any of the following bus lines: No. 049, 815, 838, 914, Β18, and Γ18.

Tickets for the Death Disco Athens Open Air Festival 2023 are now available for pre-sale. For more information about the event and to purchase tickets, visit www.athens-technopolis.gr or call (+30) 213 0109300 or 213 0109324. Don’t miss out on this exciting opportunity to experience some of the best live music in the heart of Athens.

Here is the list of all bands playing:

• The Sisters Of Mercy
• VNV Nation (Do also check out this VNV Nation interview.)
• She Past Away
• The Soft Moon
• Actors
• Absolute Body Control
• Mecano Un.Ltd
• Selofan
• Ploho
• Rue Oberkampf
• Kalte Nacht
• Mechanimal
• Youth Valley
• Data Fragments

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Eliana Giaccheri) “Absolution”, the fourth studio album by Rome-based This Eternal Decay, will be released on May 19, 2023. The album will be preceded by three singles, featuring remixes from Ductape and Zeromancer, and the first single/video is out now: “Perfection” which you can view below.

The album itself showcases eleven what the band describes as “murder synth-ballads” that delve into love as a simultaneously nurturing and destructive force. The album sees the band departing from their previous industrial sound to embrace their darkwave roots more deeply. The whole was recorded in 2022 at the Big Room Studios in Rome.

About This Eternal Decay

This Eternal Decay, an industrial-dark-wave project, is composed of Ricardo Sabetti (Spiral69), Pasquale Vico (Date at Midnight), Andrea Freda (Spiritual Front), and Alessio Schiavi (Avant-Garde). Their music combines romantic darkwave, industrial rhythms, and synthpop influences. The band’s debut album, “I Choose an Eternity of This” (Trisol Music Group) was quite well received.

In April 2020, they released their second album, “Silence”, featuring guests from Then Comes Silence and Theaters Des Vampires. Although the pandemic forced the band to cancel several European tour dates, the album was repressed three times within the first five months.

June 2021 saw the release of their maxi single, “Leave”, which also included two remixes by Kurs Lestat, and an acoustic version of the song featuring Luigi Rubino (Ashram) on piano. January 7th, 2022 marked the release of their third studio album, “Nocturne”. The album featured guests from Hapax, Avant-Garde, and remixes by ACTORS, Ash Code, Wisborg, and A Copy for Collapse.

In October 2022, This Eternal Decay embarked on their NocTour, a 15-date European tour. Throughout 2022, the band worked on their fourth studio album, “Absolution”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Kevin W Condon) As we mentioned earlier, the Brooklyn post-punk pair A Cloud of Ravens recently released their latest single, “Parable,” following “Requiem For The Sun.” We also indicated that a video was being produced. Today, we have the exclusive premiere of this new video.

The band shares their thoughts on the song: “While rich in metaphor, ‘Parable’ poses the question – how extreme must circumstances become in our world for us to recognize, both socially and culturally, that perhaps we need a shift in how we respect each other, the pointlessness of war, and our treatment of the environment? We share one planet, and we’re all in this together, whether we like it or not. Isn’t the path of least resistance ultimately the most logical choice?”

“Parable” serves as the final single from their upcoming “Lost Hymns” LP. Recorded between spring and autumn 2021 and mastered by Actors’ Jason Corbett at Jacknife Sound studio, this 11-track album will be released through Nexilis Records / Schubert Music Europe on April 28.

Here’s the “Parable” video.

Formed in 2018 by Matthew McIntosh (guitar and vocals) and Beth Narducci (bass guitar), the Brooklyn-based duo released a series of self-released offerings that led to their 2021 album “Another Kind of Midnight”. A Cloud of Ravens’ subsequent remix-based EP featured contributions by legendary producer John Fryer and such prominent artists as Clan of Xymox, Actors, Chris Vrenna and Ritual Howls.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

(Photo by Kevin W Condon) The Brooklyn post-punk duo A Cloud of Ravens has a new single out, “Parable”. “Parable” comes following “Requiem For The Sun”. A video is in the making, watch out for a premiere on Side-Line.

Here’s what the band says about the song: “Though dense in metaphor, ‘Parable’ is asking – how dire do things need to get in this world for us to realize, as a society and culturally, that maybe something needs to shift as far as how we honor each other, the futility of war, and how we treat the environment? We’ve got one planet, and we’re on it together whether we like it or not. Doesn’t the path of least resistance ultimately make the most sense?”

“Parable” is the final single from their forthcoming “Lost Hymns” LP. Recorded from spring to autumn 2021 and mastered by Actors’ Jason Corbett at his Jacknife Sound studio, this collection of 11 tracks will be released via Nexilis Records / Schubert Music Europe on April 28.

Formed in 2018 by Matthew McIntosh (guitar and vocals) and Beth Narducci (bass guitar), the Brooklyn-based duo released a series of self-released offerings that led to their 2021 album “Another Kind of Midnight”. A Cloud of Ravens’ subsequent remix-based EP featured contributions by legendary producer John Fryer and such prominent artists as Clan of Xymox, Actors, Chris Vrenna and Ritual Howls.

A Cloud of Ravens will launch a European tour with Then Comes Silence in April-May, followed by North American dates with Clan of Xymox and Curse Mackey in May-June.

Tourdates

• Apr 15 Baltimore, MD – Dark Spring Baltimore
• Apr 22 Stockholm, Sweden – Klubb DÖD *
• Apr 29 Madrid, Spain – DarkMad *
• Apr 30 Madrid, Spain – DarkMad *
• May 05 Hannover, Germany – Subkultur *
• May 06 Liège, Belgium – Le Garage Creative Music *
• May 07 Liège, Belgium – Le Garage Creative Music *
• May 09 Hamburg, Germany – Headcrash *
• May 10 Hamburg, Germany – Bastard Club *
• May 11 Berlin, Germany – Wild at Heart *
• May 12 Antwerpen, Belgium – Fetish Café *
• May 13 Köln, Germany – Artheater *
• May 31 San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger **
• June 01 Houston, TX – Numbers Night Club **
• June 02 Austin, TX – Elysium Austin **
• June 03 Dallas, TX – Granada Theater **
• June 05 Albuquerque, NM – Launchpad **
• June 06 Denver, CO – Oriental Theater **
• June 07 Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Music Hall **
• June 09 Seattle, WA – El Corazon **
• June 10 Vancouver, BC – Rickshaw Theatre **
• June 11 Portland, OR – Star Theater **
• June 13 San Francisco, CA – August Hall **
• June 14 Costa Mesa, CA – The Wayfarer **
• June 15 San Diego, CA – Brick By Brick **
• June 16 Los Angeles, CA – Regent Theater DTLA **
• July 21 Meschede, Germany – Live Am See *

* tour dates with Then Comes Silence
** tour dates with Clan of Xymox & Curse Mackey

Videos

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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(Photo by Kevin W Condon) NYC-based post-punk duo A Cloud of Ravens present their new single “Nature of Artifice”, the second single of their third full-length album “Lost Hymns”, to be released in early 2023 via Berlin-based Nexilis Records, a division of Schubert Music Europe. The single follows the release of the lead track “The Blackest Mantra”. “Nature of Artifice” will be available across digital outlets, including Apple Music, Spotify, Amazon and Bandcamp from tomorrow on but you can already check it below.

“The song ‘Nature of Artifice’ is about choosing to bury your head in the sand, rather than confronting glaring societal ills and moral injustices. It’s easier to get lost in the minutia of our click and swipe modern world than watch its blessings crumble around us. To some extent, none of us are blameless,” says founding member Matthew McIntosh.

Formed in 2018 in Brooklyn by Matthew McIntosh (guitar and vocals) and Beth Narducci (bass guitar), the duo began work on this new album in the spring of 2021. Completed by autumn, the LP was mastered by Actors’ Jason Corbettat Jacknife Sound studio in Vancouver. The new album is the follow-up to the 2021 LP “Another Kind of Midnight”. Their subsequent remix-based EP featured reimagined tracks by John Fryer and artists like Clan of Xymox, ACTORS, Chris Vrenna and Ritual Howls.

The full “Lost Hymns” album will be released on February 24, 2023.

Here’s the vide for “Nature of Artifice”

And this is the video for the previous single “The Blackest Mantra”.

Tour dates (with Clan of Xymox & Curse Mackey)

• Wed, May 31 – San Antonio TX
• Thu, June 1 – Houston TX
• Fri, June 2 – Austin TX
• Sat, June 3 – Dallas TX
• Mon, June 5 – Albuquerque NM
• Tue, June 6 – Denver CO
• Wed, June 7 – Salt Lake City UT
• Fri, June 9 – Seattle WA
• Sat, June 10 – Vancouver BC
• Sun, June 11 – Portland OR
• Tue, June 13 – San Francisco CA
• Wed, June 14 – Costa Mesa CA
• Thu, June 15 – San Diego CA
• Fri, June 16 – Los Angeles CA

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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From March 31 until April 2, 2023 included you will be able to attend the US festival, Dark Force Fest, a three-day goth-industrial music festival. The festival takes place in Parsippany, NJ (one hour from NYC), at the massive Sheraton Parsippany, an imposing castle styled hotel that features 44,000 square feet of event space with 370 hotel rooms (which are however already sold out, but there are enough hotels in the neighborhood).

Organized by VampireFreaks, the team that brought you the Triton Festival and Dark Side of the Con, this brand new event features a lineup of international bands from the gothic, industrial, darkwave and post-punk scenes. In the line-up we find such bands as HEALTH, Combichrist, Suicide Commando, ACTORS, Rabbit Junk, Vision Video, Empathy Test, Solar Fake, BILE, Psyclon Nine, Das Ich, Bootblacks, Leathers, Josie Pace, God Module, Bella Morte and many more.

In addition to 30+ bands, Dark Force Fest will also feature over 100 vendors, a costume contest, cosplay guests, sideshow performers, fun activities and informative panels. More info can be found at https://darkforcefest.com and you can order your tickets right here.

Below is the poster for the event.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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DI*ove is a Belgian EBM project set up and driven by Eric Manchiniste. He’s a great fan of Electronic music and  started composing music at the age of 12 by tinkering with his mother’s appliances. Later on he dreamed of having a synth rather than a moped like most of his friends. After his first fee as a singer in a Rock band he bought a drum machine and the adventure began… The band DI*ove is the inversion of E-void, a more Experimental project from the early 2000s. DI*ove’s first album “DI*ode” got released in 2013 by EK Product. Later on Eric started to self-release his works. The second album “DI*vided” was released in 2016 while several EP’s got released as well. The newest EP “DI*version/Phase I” is a great piece of music mixing traditional EBM influences together with Electroclash and Minimal-Electro. An introduction to DI*ove.(Picture credits by Valsdarkroom / Interview courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: DI*ove is already active for numerous years but don’t release new work at regular basis. How did it all started and what have been the main changes and evolutions throughout the years?

Eric: I thought DI*ove was releasing an album/EP on a regular basis (lol). For the past 13 years, the project has been releasing a record every 3/4 years except lately because of the pandemic.

In 2008, I had some instrumental recordings to work on. That’s when I met Lukk. As he had enjoyed a few tracks, I proposed him to add his voice. The result was very convincing. From there on was born the first EP released on Knovel Records.

Over the years I have enjoyed collaborating with other singers (Sacha, Nina) and from time to time I also stick to the exercise of placing my voice -a bit like Martin Gore on Depeche Mode albums (lol).

Q: I always experienced your sound as driven by good-old EBM influences but what are your sources of inspiration and possible bands/artists you see as true references? What does DI*ove stands for?

Eric: I grow up with the sound of the 80’s. Going from New-Romantic to New-Wave to EBM/Indus. In the 90’s, I also flirted with post New-Beat, House-Tech… I’m still interested in what’s currently being done musically. That’s why today I pick a little bit from everywhere. It is clear that the music of DI*ove is mainly driven by Dark-Electronic music like EBM but I also like to inject more contemporary sounds; not to remain only in the codes of the past.

Q: Your debut album “DI*ode” (2013) was released on EK Product while all productions after that debut were self-released. For most artists it all happens the other way round so what does this ‘do it yourself’ approach mean to you? And how do you manage all different aspects next to music, like promotion, distribution, management etc?

Eric: Let’s say that with age the desire for artistic freedom becomes greater. Then it happens that there is a big difference between what is written on a contract and the reality. Let’s add that ‘do it yourself’ is in fashion. Besides that, I’m the kind of artist who doesn’t fancy businessman’s tasks, but still has to achieve them. I’m used to manage the functions related to promotion, distribution, artwork, concert canvassing… But I must admit that my door remains open for external help. The call is launched.

Q: Tell us a bit more about your newest work “DI*version / Phase 1”. How did this EP –or is it a mini-album (?) saw the daylight? What did you try to express and what have been the main focus in the song writing?

Eric: “Di*version” was composed right after the lockdown. I was quite happy to see people again, to party again and especially to have perspectives like releasing an EP. Nina and I had gotten into the habit of having a drink on Friday nights while listening to vinyl records. One night she said to me: ‘what if we made music together?’ The next day I plugged in my machines again and took my pen.

We rethought all the Friday night conversation topics and put the most important ones back in writing. From the living room on Friday night, we moved to the home studio to record “DI*version”.

Q: You clearly seem to like working with guest artists/singers and you already collaborated with famous names like Claus Larsen, Plastic Noise Experience ao. How comes and what are the main criteria you use to work with other artists? How do these collaborations happened; I mean what’s the real impact and input of the guest artists/singers?

Eric: Indeed, I like to collaborate with other people. On the one hand it’s an opportunity to meet interesting people and on the other hand, a different approach to work. A formula that works very well for me.

I met Claus Kruse from PNE at the beginning of the Facebook era. He had liked our 2nd EP and especially a track he wanted to remix. I didn’t hesitate for a second, knowing Claus’ work. I accepted and agreed to propose the track for the compilation “Face The Beat Vol 1”. Then he sang on “Addictions” a track from our first album.

The other Claus Larsen from Leather Strip was pure luck. We were spending our vacations in the same city and we met in a bar that we used to visit for its special food (private joke!).

We talked about music, collaboration and insisted on keeping in touch after the vacations. That was it! I had a track ready and I sent it to him. Claus recorded the vocals to finalize the track “Fly Naked”.

I feel honored to have collaborated with these artists who are part of my musical library. The impact is also felt for DI*ove in terms of credibility and visibility. On a personal level, these meetings boost my satisfaction and my work in the future.

Q: Belgium remains a prolific ground for talented EBM artists, but it also is a country with a small scene for this music genre. How do you as an independent artist manage this important aspect and what brings the nearly future for DI*ove?

Eric: Belgium has very good press abroad. The actors of the scene are very enthusiastic when it comes to spreading our music. I also appreciate the complicity and the work of the people who still believe in this kind of music by putting it forward. I would like to mention JL Marchal (Synthpop80.com), Greg and Walter for their radio show “Sampler Et Sans Reproches”. Recently, I still thought that the language barrier in Belgium was a problem. None or few traces of our music in Flanders until I met the “Luminous Dash”-team.

DI*ove is actually finalizing “DI*version Phase 2” and is thinking more and more about getting back on stage.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Out via Sister 9 Recordings (Europe), Little Cloud Records (North America) and Shyrec (Itay) on October 14th is the all new album by the Treviso, Italy-based two piece Kill Your Boyfriend called “Voodoo”. But before that the duo (Matteo Scarpa and Antonio Angeli) delivers the first single “The King” for which there is also a video.

The video for “The King” takes cue from the same words of Michael Ventura that inspired Voodoo’s A site: “…let themselves be possessed not by any god they could name but by the spirit they felt in the music…”. The band states: “We decided to stage some kind of final act, where the actors are left alone at the centre of a crumbling stage and are possessed by a spirit guiding them frantically towards an inescapable ending. The spasmodic dance is a clear reference to The King or Rock & Roll and the Voodoo symbols represent the connection between the earthly and the spiritual world.”

The new LP follows “Killadelica” bridging the gap between post-punk (Death In Venice, Evabraun, Pyramids, etc.) and contemporary psych-nouveau. They have replaced the synth bass with a bass-guitar, and made sure that the electronic and acoustic percussion are fuller and heavier.

Here’ sthe video for “The King”. Read the review of ‘Voodoo’.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

It was worth waiting for the new iVardensphere-album. “Ragemaker” is the first album in five years on which Scott Fox accentuated the Cinematic influence of his work. The Canadian artist still deals with strong Tribal rhythms and Electronic sound treatments but the global atmosphere hanging over “Ragemaker” is pure Cinematic like. “Ragemaker” has been released by Metropolis Records and is a true reference in its genre;; a fully accomplished and ultra-professional production. I asked a few questions to Scott Fox.

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: What have been the sources of inspiration, triggers and challenges to compose “Ragemaker”?

Scott: The principal source of inspiration for “Ragemaker” is cinema. I wanted “Ragemaker” to have a well-defined Cinematic quality. It was important to separate this release from standard club/electronic releases so, to that end, there are only 2 tracks on this album that have any sort of club beat or indulge in the use of synthesizers beyond a textural capacity. “Ragemaker” is all about orchestration and percussion. A good portion of the release is meant to capture some of the vibe as seen in Tom Holdenborg’s score for “Mad Max Fury Road”. Being free of conventional songwriting restrictions had the benefit of allowing me to truly explore the directions of the music wherever I wanted without concern for the usual build/verse/chorus/breakdown/chorus architecture of contemporary music. Building “Ragemaker” was freeing.

Q: “Ragemaker” is an impressive and overwhelming production which I guess must have taken time to achieve. What kind of album did you’ve in mind? What have been the different stages you’d to go through and what has been the input of all members and guest singers?

Scott: The timeline for building “Ragemaker” was a new one for me. I built the entire album on camera, in real time, for patron supporters. Building the album this way presented a few interesting challenges. As people were more/less paying for time, I had to be very decisive with my production. There was no time for tinkering with a bassline for 3 hours to get it ‘just right’. Every action from dialing in a compressor to doing the final mix was recorded for consumption and this made the time in the studio incredibly efficient. I found I was able to punch out a lot of material in a very short amount of time and then harvest my favorite parts… but the dedication to fast decision making meant the songs sometimes took unexpected directions and that was amazing.

So much of this album was built as though it had a mind of its own. Had I had an unlimited amount of time to do everything, it wouldn’t have been built this way. “Ragemaker” is raw in many ways in terms of songwriting and that is perfect for what I wanted.

The singers, for the most part, were brought in towards the end of production. Jesse, Brittany, Andy, Alex and Cosette were all amazing on so many levels. They bring so much to the table and the songs they worked on are made so much better by their efforts. I can’t thank them enough.

Q: The orchestral/epic arrangements have never been that present and explicit in your work. How did you prepare this album (and especially the drum sections) and did you handle specific criteria about instruments and production work?

Scott: The preparation rested primarily in making sure I had all the tools I needed to make this happen. I have lots of synthesizers but, as I mentioned, synths really took a back seat on this album. I spent a lot of time curating and organizing orchestral and percussion sound libraries. I drew heavily upon those while I worked. Beyond that it was all about developing a new workflow to accomodate a more orchestrated vibe.

After listening to the album (and the drums in particular) it’s easy to guess that, without mindful attention, everything could end up sounding like drum soup. I organized drums by ethnicity, frequency, tonal characteristics, reverb tails, dynamics, ring out time and so on so that I would always be able to create a separation in the sounds. Separation of the sounds, especially if they are layered or in quick succession, is critical. All these arrangements ahead of time meant I had the right tools on hand when needed and the understanding of what I needed from them.

Q: When listening to this album I can’t get away from the idea you must be a true perfectionist taking care of every single detail. How do you see yourself as musician/producer and when do you know a song/album is finished?

Scott: Thank you so very much for the kind words! I think you said it best with the term ‘every single detail’. Every single sound on this album has a strong handed EQ attached to it. A good EQ is the best tool in the toolbox and I love to abuse mine.

How do I know a song is finished? When I’m not sick of listening to it anymore. haha. Honestly, this is something every producer struggles with. You write something and then listen so that you can hear what you don’t like or want to change so you go back and change it. Rinse. Repeat.

The objective on this album was to not stop when I thought it was good enough but to stop when I was horrified at how much what going on. There are a couple songs on “Ragemaker” that have nearly 100 channels of just drums/percussion. The idea of mixing all that is quite daunting but I knew I wanted something utterly over the top so I went with a more is more approach this time out. It was a hell of a lot of fun.

Q: The ‘cinematic’ side of the album has been illustrated by the clip “The Shattering Queen”, which according to me is one of the most professional and accomplished clips ever produced in this music scene. Tell us a bit more about the realization, concept, director and actors behind the clip? And what’s the importance and impact of a clip today?

Scott: Oh wow… that really hits deep. Again, thank you. Filming “The Shattering Queen” was an experiment of me moving into uncharted territory. I had never done a proper iVardensphere video and, to be honest, the process of doing one was equally mysterious and intimidating. BUT… I had decided it was something I wanted to do so I started watching all sorts of media on how to film things. After I had done enough research, I bought a camera and supplies for it. Then came the idea of the shoot.

I assembled a wonderful group of close friends to which I am incredibly indebted to for all the hell we went through. After going through everyone’s schedules, I developed a shooting schedule which took place over two weekends in some wonderfully remote locations. Filming the video was the very first time I had anyone in front of the camera. Up until that point, I had only done research on how I ‘should’ be doing it and now it was the trial by fire. Some aspects of the shoot were a complete failure but some worked out so much better than I had anticipated. Everyone put a lot of effort into their costumes which really sells it. I learned a LOT on that shoot.

Once the shoot was done, I had to research a video editing program to use and then learn how to edit and treat a video. As you can see… It was very much a ‘learn while doing’ experience. After getting all that under my belt, I’m really looking forward to the next video shoot we will do. The team is ready and so am I!

Q: How will you bring “Ragemaker” to the stage? What are your further plans for iVardensphere and what about This Morn’Omina?

Scott: “Ragemaker” to the stage…. I have absolutely NO IDEA but I better figure it out quickly as we have a number of shows lining up for this summer. I’m sure my live crew is up to the task. They’re all amazing musicians and have historically handled whatever I’ve thrown at them with zeal. Expect…. drum soup. 😉

Regarding This Morn’Omina, this year we have a few shows lined up between Europe and North America. It’s going to be a lot of fun cutting loose with Mika, Jelle and Peter on stage soon.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

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Duran Duran have released the new video for “Anniversary”, directed by photographer and filmmaker, Alison Jackson. Not a coincidence as the video is filled with lookalikes and actors, her trademark. “Anniversary” is taken from the band’s upcoming fifteenth studio album “Future Past”, set for global release on October 22 via Tape Modern for BMG.

The video was shot over three days at the historic Belvoir Castle in Leicestershire, which dates back to the 11th century. Opening its doors to a wealth of celebrity lookalikes, Alison Jackson created lavish scenes of pure decadence. Watch what Elton John, The Queen, Daniel Craig, Lady Gaga, Dolly Parton and a host of others get up to in one long weekend with Simon, John, Nick and Roger.

Watch “Anniversary”.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

(Photo by Shannon Hemmett) Vancouver based post-punk act Actors returns with an all new 10-track album, “Acts of Worship”, October 1st. The release is the follow-up to their 2018 album, “It Will Come to You”.

“Acts of Worship” was produced by band founder Jason Corbett at his own Jacknife Studio in Vancouver.The album sees the debut of new bassist Kendall Wooding and thus joins the current lineup with synth player Shannon Hemmett and drummer Adam Fink.

Here’s the band’s latest music video for “Only Lonely”.

Actors will be touring North America throughout the fall. Below are the tour dates.

• Sep 9 – San Diego, CA @ Space BAR
• Sep 11 – Phoenix, AZ @ Rebel Lounge
• Sep 12 – Los Angeles @ Catch One Underground
• Sep 13 – Oakland, CA @ Elbo Room
• Sep 14 – Sacramento, CA @ The Starlet Room at Harlow’s
• Sep 15 – Portland, OR @ Star Theater
• Sep 16 – Tacoma, WA @ Elks Temple Spanish Ballroom
• Sep 17 – Seattle, WA @ Tractor
• Sep 18 – Bellingham, WA @ The Shakedown
• Sep 22 – Montreal, QC @ Le Ritz
• Sep 23 – Toronto, ON @ Horseshoe
• Sep 24 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Spirit Lodge
• Sep 25 – Detroit, MI @ Small’s
• Sep 26 – Chicago, IL @ Cold Waves Festival
• Sep 27 – Indianapolis, IN @ Black Circle Brewing
• Sep 28 – Louisville, KY @ Art Sanctuary
• Sep 29 – Cleveland, OH @ Mahall’s
• Sep 30 – Baltimore, MD @ Metro Gallery
• Oct 1 – Philadelphia, PA @ Warehouse on Watts
• Oct 2 – Brooklyn, NY @ Saint Vitus
• Oct 3 – Washington, DC @ Pie Shop
• Oct 4 – Richmond, VA @ Richmond Music Hal
• Oct 5 – Raleigh, NC @ The Pour House Music Hall
• Oct 6 – Asheville, NC @ The Odditorium
• Oct 7 – Atlanta, GA @ 529
• Oct 8 – Tampa, FL @ Absolution Fest
• Oct 9 – Austin, TX @ Elysium
• Nov 27 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
• Dec 7 – San Antonio, TX @ Sam’s
• Dec 8 – Dallas, TX @ Dada
• Dec 9 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Kilby
• Dec 10 – Denver, CO @ HQ

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

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Today, the Brooklyn-based gothic rock duo A Cloud of Ravens have released “Another Kind of Midnight: The Remixes”, I an EP featuring remixes by Clan of Xymox, Actors, Chris Vrenna, John Fryer, Ritual Howls, Tummyache and Ego Likeness.

Formed in the fall of 2018 by Beth (bass guitar) and Matthew (guitar/vocals) the band is centered around their longstanding and shared admiration of bands and artists that defined the stark, minimal dramaticism of the initial post-punk era, and all its related subgenres. The band quickly self-released their first single, closely followed by the “Sacred Hearts” EP and their full-length album “In the Wicked Hours”.

The duo signed with American independent label Cleopatra Records to issue their new full-length offering “Another Kind of Midnight” and now they offer the remix EP “Another Kind of Midnight: The Remixes”.

The release is available from Cleopatra Records on all digital and streaming platforms.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Absolution Fest announces it’s return. The festival takes place in Tampa (Ybor City), FL on October7th-9th and they have just announced the line-up.

The Absolution Fest features artists from the Post-Punk, Industrial, Darkwave, and Synthpop scenes. Headlining the festival this year will be the synthpop electro act Mr.Kitty, post-punkers Actors, and electropop duo Korine.

Absolution Fest also features the industrial/pop artist Kanga, and the industrial artist Curse Mackey. Additional artists playing include Rosegarden Funeral Party, Bellwether Syndicate, Astari Nite, The Kentucky Vampires, Kiss of the Whip, Hallows, Death Loves Veronica, SINE, Cold Medicine and Gulf Blvd.

Full day festival passes and single day tickets are available now right here.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Back in 1991 I started writing my first reviews for Side-Line magazine. I would have never thought to go on writing reviews and making interviews non-stop for 30 years. So 2021 is a special year to me, a kind of ‘celebration year’. I got the idea to celebrate this special event by interviewing people from the scene who all have a special meaning to me. ‘Journalists’ have to remain neutral, but it doesn’t take a way we all have our own favorite artists. Juno Reactor is one of my all-time favorites. Instigator Ben Watkins is an artist who each time again takes me by surprise. His work is mixing influences like Psy-Trance, Tribal and Cinematographic music. The Juno Reactor sound has something special featuring elements you directly recognize; a true sound-DNA. I already got the opportunity to interview Ben Watkins before, but I’ve been deeply touched he accepted to answer questions for this special interview. Great artists aren’t only composing great music; they’re still accessible and humble persons. I’d an endless number of questions to ask. Ben took his time to answer and it finally resulted in one of the most informative and complete Juno Reactor interviews ever. Thanks Ben and respect!

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

‘I Was Smitten By Girls And Rock’

Q: What have been your first experiments as a musician? What have been the triggers and, which were your favorite bands as a teenager? 

Ben: I was born into a family of five kids, I was the second, my parents had both been actor’s. When I was between 5 and 6 years old I would wait for my brother in my classroom to finish his school -I would have about an hour, so about 10 of us kids and a teacher would do drawing, games etc. One day I suggested we do a “Top Of The Pops” (a popular TV show); I formed a band with air-minus-everything, sat my mate Jason down on drums as he had the biggest nose like Ringo Star, can’t remember the others; we would make what surely was a cacophony of made-up words and stamping to the beat. “She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah” must have rung out beyond the classroom as the headmaster, a demonstrative man, with a liking for beating kids with his sports shoe would appear at the window looking very irritated. As it was not the first time I had had the unwarranted shoe across my backside, a shiver would go down my back as his eyes and Hitler moustache bobbed above the door partition. 

These pleasant heady afternoons were soon banned due to the repetition of “She Loves You Yeah Yeah Yeah”. I noticed the rather large female teacher was pretty good at the piano, So I asked if I could have lessons, even her non-stop smoking didn’t not put me off. 

The headmaster had too much of a liking for giving me a sore ass, so I asked my parents if I could move school. I had joined the parish choir, the choirmaster was a man named Roy Massey. Roy Massey was cool and pushed me as he liked my voice. He suggested I go to a Cathedral Choir school and apply for a scholarship. 

First I went to audition at St Pauls Cathedral in London. It was a bleak audition, I didn’t prepare enough, and glad I escaped what reminded me of a Charles Dickens movie. Next was Chichester. I could breathe in this atmosphere, I passed the audition of 200 kids for one place and felt very puffed up with myself, knowing my parents didn’t have to pay for my education. 

Violin followed, along with daily practise -7 am wake up, 30 minutes piano or violin practise. 8 am breakfast, 8:30 practise piano violin, 9 am going to the classroom, 12:00 choir practise, lunch then school, sports, choir practise, choir service, dinner, do homework, play free games, practise then bed. This went on for 4 years along with a new disciplinary teacher who equally enjoyed punishment -this time a cane, up the wide massive stairs of the bishops palace, down a long dark corridor, knock, explain my crime, ‘Ben-d over Watkins’, a leather chair which when bent over lifted my behind into the perfect position. 6 whacks later, my hands firmly on my butt, dark bruises would appear later in the night. I had been born again to the boy I should have been in the first place. 

Music school and punishment always seemed interlinked. Even now it annoys me that the first headmaster refused to put my name on the scholarship board, what a cunt. His name was Mr. Sandford.

 I survived Chichester, I became the head of House, by this time I was no longer beaten, and had a champion in Mr. Ross, the disciplinary teacher, sports freak alto in the choir with a certain eye for pubescent males. I was good at winning in Rugby, as we had the biggest 13-year-old god or whoever made him, like a superhero he would destroy other schools and me riding on his coattails basked in his glory. Mr. Ross showed me how to take down a man, so we did with as much aggression as possible when he joined in. 

I left Chichester, a remnant from the stone age of how not to teach a dyslexic kid like me through corporal punishment on how to learn -I didn’t. My choirmaster at Chichester I must say was equally odd, looking like Eric Malcombe (a British comedian). He again had a draconian delight in making sure the boys of the choir feared him, his eyes would hover over you like the follow spots of a prison camp from high above us in the organ loft. He had two mirrors focused on us, and if you looked up, the Vampire of Bela Lugosi would be there. I can’t say I cried when he died a few years ago, as I still hold a dagger that was thrown too many times my way. 

So Wells Cathedral school was next, my introduction to the female sex… well, bye bye learning, OK practise the violin, do all the rest, then focus on bands, Led Zep, David Bowie, Marc Bolan, Alice Cooper, Queen, glam rock. I was smitten by girls and rock. My mate Simon Baggs was older and had a car, we would venture out of the school across to Glastonbury plateaus, a labyrinthian set of roads through old mash lands, country pubs to drink cider, smoke John Players Special fags, and listen to his 8 tracks (?) as the beams of his car entered the mists of the backcountry lanes. Alice Cooper’s “Love It To Death” album never sounded so sweet. I continued exploring musical possibilities by experimenting with my first band Spiritual Sky, influenced by David Bowie, whose concerts was the first I went to, the Aladdin Sane tour at the Earls Court Stadium.

‘I Was Listening To D.A.F. And I Realised This Is The Future’

Q: Hailing from London (UK) I can imagine the late 70s and 80s have been fascinating years when it comes to music and the (r)evolution of Electronic music. What did these years mean to you and do you still feel an impact today? 

Ben: I left school when I was 16/17 with the intent of going to a music college. At that time I played classical guitar, and would practise 8 hours a day, and got quite OK on it. I flunked the first audition as I didn’t present a second instrument. This depressing point changed the course of my life, I was so annoyed by myself, I stopped playing classical guitar and got more into songs of Dylan and people like John Martin. Smoked a ton of dope, started busking, went off to Paris with a semi pyscho guy called Lynn, a man with an addiction to Valium and a crushing right hand as a rhythm guitarist, and spent the summer playing on the streets of Saint Michelle and the Champs Elysée. After months of being arrested (and sometimes put into prison -the police were quite nice and would give me beers to play) I had had enough. I wanted to form a band! Due to my parents lengthily separation and all the conflicts attached to it, starting since I was 9, and final divorce shortly after my return home from Paris, life diverted and I ended up establishing a rehearsal room in the now deserted parental house, where I and my older brother would continue living alone, experiencing the newly found peace and evolving musical projects while rehearsing with my first band Panther. I started gigging, Punk-Rock was kicking off! I was playing, now with my band Rainstorm, the same pubs as the Sex Pistols, Japan, The Stranglers amongst others, we did a tour withThe Frankie Miller Band. A Glasgow singer that should have been born in Memphis -a great singer, wild and very much a Glaswegian. Back then I was booking shows from a red phone box -coins every 30 seconds. Rainstorm turning into I.O.U., we played pretty much every music pub in the country. I really wish I’d kept my bass player from I.O.U. for my next musical project, a guy named Ian Taylor, who I had a natural affinity with.

I was bored of being skint and driving up and down the country for 2 years in our Box Transit with 6 aircraft seats, a PA we had on HP (higher purchase/credit) and going nowhere, fun but nowhere. One time we had to be rescued by the police near Shropshire in Winter, heavy snow blocked the roads at midnight, and the Transit was stranded and being snowed in, the guitarist, also called Ben, had icicles forming on his moustache. I remember crossing fields alone to find a house, first one wouldn’t help us, onto another who did ring the rescue, six of us stuff into a police car -never felt so good.

I partnered up with some musicians an A&R man from CBS suggested. The A&R man was a guy called Chas de Whalley, the brother of a friend of mine from back in the days of the headmaster with a penchant for corporal punishment. We, The Hitmen, went on to be signed to CBS after a year of rehearsals and songs that sounded like a primitive AI had made for a pop audience. Much to the chagrin of CBS, the management and the band, we were incredibly unsuccessful despite all the money and machinery CBS provide. I hated it, the mentality of playing the same notes, in-jokes and seriously underwhelming emotions. I had to leave as I couldn’t stomach The Hitmen any more, the characters in the band were the antithesis of my mental state or desire. Luckily the second album decided to shoot itself in the head, due to too much fighting, no focus and CBS’s realisation The Hitmen were doomed.  

Phil Manzanero’s studio (the guitarist of Roxy Music) was a white circular house -I had never seen anything like it! The engineer was a guy called Ian Little. We had made the last Hitmen record there, and I got on with him well. We talked nearly the same language, as opposed to the disconnect with the band. He wanted to make an avant-garde album, free of doctrine -just do what you want. So for a few tracks I threw away all concern and I was to be David Bowie, imagining myself on an alternative “Lodger”-album. Nothing was written, all just improvised. The band was called New Asia… This set my brain off into new ways of writing, like Brian Eno, as studios were expensive and this gave me a chance to experiment. 

So in the ’70s and ’80s it felt like I was always playing catch up with what other people were doing. I had had the band signed to CBS – it sounded like another band (Elvis Costello mix), or my previous bands -we didn’t sound particularly individual. It was only when I was sick enough of all the ego’s, bullshit or the hatred that you got from possibly jealous band members, that when I got introduced to a drum machine and a sequencer I realised I could get rid of half the band. I was listening to D.A.F. -it was a two-piece and I realised this is the future.

I met Youth (the bass player of Killing Joke) in ’82, around the time when he had just left Killing Joke and was looking to start a new band, which became Brilliant. I was the only guy he knew with a sequencer so for a short time I joined. Toured UK and Spain. We went on to record under the Name The Youth & Ben Watkins on the “The Empty Quarter”-album and “The Empty Quarter” on the “Delirium” album. Both albums were extremely quick in making;  first album -the official soundtrack to Jonathan Moore’s stage play “Street Captives” -2 days. Written, recorded and mixed with predominantly pulsating bass lines, drums, early Greengate samplers and synthesizers. Second album -5 days. We recorded “Delirium”, focusing more on rhythms and Electronic elements with still some instrumental aspect, ranging from Tribal to Industrial to Gothic-Funk. So many funny stories with Youth -the time in Spain on the evacuation of the tour, as it all fell apart after Barcelona; we took all our equipment back on the train, decided to eat all of our dope before the French border. By the time we arrived at midnight, the French border police wanted to play games with this group of English stoners. ‘Who is this woman’ they said, referring to a passport. We all looked and couldn’t identify her? ‘Go find her…’ so we all went looking on the train platform, bewildered and laughing, about an hour later we returned to their pigeon hole and asked to look again, as no way was she still on the platform. Upon second look we realised it was me they were referring to… Ha. Ha.

I heard DAF and Suicide around this time, I was saved! This music spoke to me. My grandmother died and left me 200£ which I immediately spent on a Roland MC 202, a sequencer with one monophonic synth. On HP I bought a cheap drum machine and a Moog Rogue. I formed The Flowerpot Men with Adam Peters, a classical cellist, who later became Echo And The Bunnymen’s orchestrator. 

 Our first single sold well for an underground track. We toured with Dead Or Alive and Siouxsie And The Banshees. Steven Severin of the Banshee’s produced the first “Single Joe’s So Mean to Josephine”, a dark murderous story I had read in the papers. The police knew who had killed the woman in bed, but couldn’t work out how Joe had managed to tie himself up. For the track I expanded on the story a bit. The 202 was driving this with the added influences of T.Rex, sort of a suicide inspired track. It charted in the indie charts and you could hear it being played by John Peel on BBC Radio 1 and loads of underground Gothic Dj’s. “Jo’s So Mean (to Josephine)” was also on our own independent record label, Compost Records.

In 1985 we recorded a cover of Dr Johns “Walk On Gilded Splinters” with Dr John on guest vocals, at Run DMC’s Studio In Nostrand Ave, Brooklyn NY. The B side featured a track called “Melting Down On Motor Angel” which was an elongation of the new drug MDMA, which we sampled on a roof garden on 8th Street watching a shoot-out down below. “Melting Down On Motor Angel” was also the album title to Sunsonic’s only album.

Around this time also, Sigue Sigue Sputnik started turning up to our gigs in full dress, noting down all we were doing, later to make their own version of our madness. A single a year, then along came Ferris Bueller’s Day Off in 1986 completely out of the blue.

Another EP “Alligator Bait”, four songs inspired again by the time in New York… what wasn’t great about New York at that time? So much vibe, parties, gigs, the Danceteria, hanging out with artists, musicians, actors, painters, just walking down the street was like being in a Kojak episode, I loved it!

We were building a nice audience when Adam decided to go produce a Punk band in Denmark instead of headlining the Temple of Gothic achievement -the Camden Palace. The Flowerpot Men were no more.

 Yello had come into my life with the “80 – 85”-remix album, it never left the record player, Sonic Youth, Front 242, most of the Mute Records catalogue, Beggars Banquet label, ZTT were making records I could only dream of creating…

So rethink time, 9 months of thinking, writing; rave music came in 86/87, early parties hanging out with KLF in their squat. Sometimes engineering their remixes, or going on the highland adventures with the KLF, making a copy of “The Wicker Man” for all KLF’s licencees, flown onto a small island on the Western Isles (the same place they burnt a million pounds in the name of art and cocaine), so like a twat, as again I was skint I did the opposite of good, and tried and succeed in going and signing with another major label, this time Polydor Records and with my Flowerpot partner, I started Sunsonic. Part of the deal was they build us a studio to save on costs, so what seemed a cool idea -and was in some ways -was us investing into learning how (and not) to become an engineer, an album that should have taken a few months turned into two years and sounded like it: over thought under inspired.

I worked with Alex Paterson (The Orb) again and formed a short-lived band called Peace In The Middle East, same name as the track we created, a sort of goodwill floppy dance sounding workout, nothing special.

 When there was so much great quick music being made we were in creative limbo. So the impact changed. Find a new way to present a band, no longer did I want the ego of one partner, I wanted a collective or collaborators and keep the vibe and atmosphere good and exciting. 

Adam left for the USA, I stayed and started Juno Reactor.

‘Juno Reactor Was Set Up As An Art Collective’

Q: I think Juno Reactor was originally set up as an art collective/gallery, right? Who was involved? What was it all about and how did it finally become a music collective centred around you? 

Ben:  Juno Reactor was set up as an art collective, with writers, installation artists, filmmakers, etc. Norma Fetcher, my girlfriend, took a surface to air missile and we drove it around London down past Parliament Square, Big Ben, Whitehall on a flatbed truck, with armoured personal carriers front and back whilst dressed as Arabs -an anti Gulf War protest, and installed it into an art Gallery, the Diorama, that was owned by the Queen and had a perfect silo shape in the middle where the rocket was newly erected. For this, I wrote “Luciana” -really Juno Reactor’s first album, which was also a suggestion of Jimmy Cauty (KLF) that I should do an hour mix as he had just done, as an experiment. The trouble with art was funding and much easier for me to get musical backing so it folded as soon as it began. Although R&S Records did sponsor that show as I had released a track called “I Love You” under the name of Electrotete with future JR musician Stephan Holweck (who later became Total Eclipse), a crazy French guy and brilliant bass player who also lived in the Benio squat with Jimmy.

The main people in the first two Juno Reactor albums were: Mike Maquire, a great guy I met at the distribution company Greyhound, when releasing a self-released title “Pycho SlapHead”, a brutal rave track with a sense of murderous humour. Mike was great, he had been in India many times and loved the early scene where DJ’s were already playing my tracks. I had to find out more, so we went into my studio in Bowl Court and Mike turned me on to the current sound of India. As it was so close to my Electronic sound it was an easy hop onto a train – Sci-Fi Landscapes, my 202 still purring like a train, we made the track “High Energy Protons”. Mike took it to India and immediately it became a big track there and abroad: Japan, Greece, France, Germany and UK. Tracks kept on hoping out in two or three days, with Stephan Holweck and Mike and soon we had about nine or ten tracks, so I took them up to Mute Records, intending to only perhaps sell one track. They loved it and wanted the album!

No one knew what this music was, so they called it intelligent Techno, albums were selling, gigs were happening, I was feeling more comfortable about the debts of Sunsonic being paid off. 

‘For Me It Was A Sci-Fi Scene For Acid Party People’

Q: The singles “Laughing Gas” and “High Energy Protons” plus the debut album “Transmissions” (1993) were into Goa-Trance. Back in time this genre was something totally new and often introduced as ‘Electronics for hippies’. What did you keep in mind from this album and how did you see the Goa-Trance movement evolving? 

Ben: Well, I never saw it as music for hippies -for me it was a Sci-fi scene for acid party people, hippies were still listening to Dylan in my mind. I had come from the Industrial-Rock routes, with heavy sense or brutal Electronica, which was also being played out in India, so for me, it was not much of a diversion, more like an extension of what I had already been doing. So I hooked up with Mike and Johann Bley, a great writer and drummer, who lived in Goa for 6 months of the year whilst I stayed in the UK and carried on writing tracks. Youth by this time was also indulging in holidays out there. It was a great way to write with no commercial interest, and just get what was great feedback from India and the parties. Essentially it was a very positive way of producing after what was a rather grim time whilst with Sunsonic. 

“Transmissions” was the first real beginning of something special, Mike Maguire – Stephan Holweck – Johann Bley even Turnip the Swede Jens Walderbeck, had an important part to play in the new playground. Mike and Johann would go to Goa and live there for 6 months of the year, send feedback on tracks, that even in these days of fire hilltop communication, managed to pass on the vibe of the parties, as I worked on new tracks to send out, or wait for their return. I had no idea of the lazy days on the beaches, rented houses year round, with cleaners and cooks, small or large jungle parties where monkeys would be interactive with the monkeys our tracks (“Jungle High”) -I have sampled a lot of monkey sounds.

These new Cyber-Punks would network in the blessed out Goa sun, to return to their homelands, far away from paradise and the free love of this un-celebrated underground unknown music, their generation accepting of all ages, colours race. Would telegraph their passion, create parties in on hidden mountains in Japan, sex clubs in L.A, warehouse London, gymnasiums in Paris, disused airports in Germany, Outback volcanos in Australia. We were invisible to the industry of wannabe stars and bankrupt music.

This kinetic energy of knowing you were onto something new was the drug, like a secret society that anyone could join, if you had digested the shared psychedelic values.

Our new world was fresh, driven, invited around the world, “Transmissions” was transmitting on a global level, that music magazines and house DJs couldn’t fathom.

 The studio building was from the time of Jack the Ripper, a 3 story warehouse used for  god knows what, the atmosphere had not left it, along with some of the rather back street people you might expect in that area of London. Prostitutes would use the car park at the back, working their trade. Sometime city guys in suits would be aggressive and attack the women, so we kept a baseball bat by the door and if we heard their screams we would run out in the name of protection.

Q: Your next album “Luciana” (1994) was something totally different and not exactly the most familiar album from your discography. But I think there’re a few interesting things to say about this work; it revealed your interest in Soundtracks while it got released on Alex Paterson’s (The Orb) own label Inter-Modo. What brought you to write this album and how did you get in touch with Alex Paterson? 

Ben: This goes back to the Missile Project and the involvement in installation art. Alex (THE ORB) heard the album and loved it, he said ‘Can I release it?’, why not I thought, so I spent an afternoon with Alex in the studio, he added some elements over the stereo track and that became the album. I met Alex in 1986, as he is Youth oldest and best friend, an ex roadie of Killing Joke with an amazing record collection, a massive ability to smoke more than London can produce and speak in a way you need a hearing aid to listen. 

Q: I’ve always linked Juno Reactor with solid bass lines and transcendental drums. “Beyond The Infinite” (1995) perfectly symbolizes these elements, but also your interest to explore new ideas like Tribal drums. What did this work say about your perception of ‘sound’ and eventually your passion for drums? 

Ben: “Beyond The Infinite”, by this time Mute and cool London were not fans of Goa or Trance anymore, and decided to call it ‘Tarquin Techno’ in the media, because of the image that rich kids were behind the scene, which -looking at myself, was obviously bollocks, but in Goa there certainly were a few, and maybe the other scenes sensing danger, ridiculed it. They were about to steal the name of trance. Paul Oakenfold(like ‘Sique Sique Sputnick’) was hanging out at parties, listening, collecting ideas and tracks, the house was moving to Trance. Clever, to take this and add all the crap vocals and sell it off to the sheep… Their power and media savvy then became ‘Trance’. Not sure what our scene was, Psychedelic-Trance? Along come all these pigeon holes. Name it, sell it. We didn’t give a shit and stayed as far away from the cliché as possible. Mike was so great at this time, he had the best tunes of anyone, and was in great demand as an international DJ, from the USA to Japan and sometimes we would join him as a live three-piece. Brilliant days, we were a family. 

Q: I think you’re an artist with a very unique sound DNA! What I’m trying to say is that I instantly can recognize your work by the bass lines, the orchestral arrangements, the hypnotic drum sections… What makes this DNA and where does it come from? 

Ben: I have no idea. Like all musicians, I have collected and been inspired by what I needed and wanted. I love all types of music, still do, these DNA strands are unique, the hard part is how to lay them out for others to share and enjoy. I wanted to be a photographer when very young, my dad said it was too expensive, so film, TV, pictures, music all collided and formed whatever I am in my tastes for music.

‘I Decided To Become More Grounded In Earthly Sounds From The Percussion’

Q: It’s impossible not evoking “Bible Of Dreams” (1997), which revealed new ideas and collaborations. I consider this work as your magnum opus, which even today hasn’t lost its original magic. How do you look back at this work 24 years later and are there some aspects of the production you would do differently? 

Ben:  So the time of “Bible Of Dreams” came along. Robert Trunz, CEO of MELT2000 -the umbrella company which ran Blue Room, and Simon Ghahary, the managing director of Blue Room -a sub-label based in the UK specialising in Electronic music, had signed Juno Reactor to Blue Room/Melt 2000 for “Beyond The Infinite”, as Mute didn’t want it. Robert was a jazz freak, and he got me involved in his great love for African music. Robert and Simon were different, business was easy, as Robert was pretty loaded and loved to invest in his artists. He took over my shabby warehouse studio, put in a massive Raindurk Symphony Desk, massive monitors that would be anyone’s wet dream, 9 bass drivers aside, they blew the roof off. He took over landlord costs, God I was free of all these costs, and could make music without the fear of losing it all.  

I had been introduced to the African musicians on Melt 2000. All the scene was doing was still making chemical noises, and stick in an alien landscape for the acid heads. Although this is enjoyable, it became very repetitive. So I decided to become more grounded in earthly sounds from the percussion. The only percussionists I had been introduced to before Amampondo were generally white guys, flipping away on drums in a sloppy-sloppy fashion, or German-style timpani military way which I had found pretty useless and saw no advantage in it on a track. So my mind was blown away by Mabi -power, rhythmic complexity, fun, tradition, amazing rhythms that propelled the track! My eyes were opened and I felt stupid I had not seen what so many others had -say for example my favourite drummer Ginger Baker -why hadn’t I noticed African drumming that years before? Anyway, I was now awake to its potential in my world of cross over, not interested in world music in its pure form and wanted to create a fusion with electronic music and see what comes out. 

Working with Mabi was so instinctive, we both saw tracks in the same way as pictures and thoughts, I literally fell over him in a music studio corridor where he was asleep on the floor when I was producing a Zulu Band for Melt 2000 in South Africa. We got talking and I invited him and Amampondo to play all the percussion, so in a way, our future was laid out there.

I felt I knew what I was doing, none of my UK band wanted to tour the USA with Moby for just 30 minutes a night, so I called Mabi and Amampondo , did a few rehearsals and off on tour! This moment diverted the future of the project for the next 12 years where I would tour with Amampondo.

 “God Is God” could finally be added to a Juno Reactor album, as now JUNO RREACTOR was more interested in the earth sounds, leaving sci-fi behind. “God Is God” was written around the end of “Transmissions”, needed a better mix, but was ready. The album fell into place so easily. 

I wouldn’t touch “Bible Of Dreams” as it is a record of where I was musically at the time. I firmly believe people walk on our path for a reason, be it for a short or long period. How we interact with them is up to us. Some people unexpectedly turn out to be far more important than you could ever have imagined. Some you will love until you die, while other return to the mist of being.

Q: I read somewhere that after “Bible Of Dreams” you got the feeling to be done with Electronic music. What was it all about? Was it a kind of exhaustion or blank page syndrome?

Ben: It happens a lot to me, especially with Electronic music. Far too many people seem to be happy to create a platform. Be it Trance, Techno, Ambient, Drum’n’Bass, Bass music, whatever. It gets like an L.A motorway full of polluting gases all sounding the same. So I go left, maybe my mistake there, but as I am totally useless at being commercial, I prefer my way. And hope others enjoy it.

‘The Track Was Built Around My Love For Tarantino And Westerns, Clint Eastwood And “Once Upon A Time In The West”’

Q: The opening song “Pistolero” from the “Shango”-album (2000) probably became your biggest hit ever. It sounds differently because of this guitar play and yet it remains 100% Juno Reactor! I remember my reaction when I heard it for the very first time: ‘this guy is crazy’! Was this song a kind of antithesis to all what you’ve done before? And how did you imagine the future of the project right at the new millennium? 

Ben: On tour I met up with Steve Stevens. After speaking with him on the phone about the recent Traci Lords album that I produced, I invited him to play on a show in L.A, a great venue, like an old-fashioned sports hall with a running track above. Now, I think how freaked out he must have been, as I patched him into my desk, he would play, and I would cut him off at random, he kept on looking over as if to say ‘WHAT THE FUCK?!’, he must have thought I was crazy, he didn’t complain but you don’t do this to a Rock Legend. Anyway, we got on, he asked me to produce a track for his album – yep, “Pistolero”.

Steve wasn’t used to my regime of endless hours in the studio and I think after six days his eyes were somewhere down near his guitar swaying hips, exhausted he returned to the USA. He wasn’t that impressed, so I agreed to pay his costs, and I would release it. I worked on it a ton more, and out popped the track we know.

The track was built around my love for Tarantino and Westerns, Clint Eastwood and “Once Upon A Time In The West”. When it was released I named it the “Tarantino Radio Edit”. Quentin loved it and Robert Rodriguez and Tarantino then wrote “Once Upon A Time In Mexico” after being inspired by my “Pistolero” track, which they credited in the CD booklet.

Currently, I’m working on the new album, Steve Stevens, Sugizo and Amir Haddad will hopefully all on the same track.

Working with Amampondo was a dream, we never argued, just laughed a lot, after having lived in each other’s pockets on tour we got on well. I learnt more from them than they did of me. Their sense of rhythm, spontaneity, improvisation, the humour of dance, the humour of anything. We would do shows, stop the machines and go into full-on Tribal rhythms, songs of the Pondo’s. Every night was different. Mandla and Simpewe would perform acrobatics when we played “Feel The Universe”, crowds loved this, even though injuries happened, the next night they would do it again. I carried on working with them for 12 years until it became impossible to bring them from South Africa due to rising costs and falling promoters budgets. 

I should add that Traci Lords was also very cool to work with, and had several enjoyable sessions with her, which led to a top 5 USA billboard track titled “Control” and a number of movie syncs from these sessions.

‘“Matrix” Was Like Being Shot And Landing In Heaven With A Ticket Back To Earth’

Q: Your songs got more and more featured in movies and you wrote different songs for Soundtracks. I can imagine the “Matrix”-experiences must have been a kind of ultimate dream and accomplishment? But what has been the impact of all these experiences –and more especially “The Matrix”, on your career?

Ben: I love films, first of all, so for it to combine with my music is a dream job no matter what the film is. I will score a bug on a wall, and still enjoy it. “Matrix” was like being shot and landing in heaven with a ticket back to earth. After the initial meeting with the Wachowski’s I had to smash nails into my boots to keep me from flying off to the stars. Reality hit in a good way and was the toughest discipline mixed with the excitement of being able to please the directors and myself. What do I take away from it? A sense of achievement that I did something very special. I still get composers coming up to me and saying it is a landmark film for integration of Electronics and orchestra which is what the Wachowski’s wanted. It helped me believe in my writing al lot more, although confidence is like the wind, some days you have it others not.

The daily routine of waking up in heaven is not always as easy as it sounds, as even in my camp I would experience jealousy, I had brought with me a programmer (Stephan Holweck) an engineer (Greg Hunter) Singer (Taz) Stephan more turned into a cook and this frustrated his, as he wanted to be more involved, but the way out worked out there was no real room for him. Greg brought in his friend, which added to the annoyance of Greg; Greg would come in and say as I was working on “The Burly Brawl”, ‘that is a load of crap’ in-front of his friend as a light heated joke, which they all found very funny, I took Greg outside and suggested he return back to London as he wasn’t on my team, either buck up or go home. I should have sacked Greg as he would do things like after a mix was finished, he wanted to polish it more, so first time I agreed and I went back to the Paramore to sleep. I got a call from the dub stage early in the morning saying ‘what is this mix, it is horrible!!!’ I asked what time it was made they said 8 am, I replied please listen to mix from 1:00 am . They did and said thank you this is great.

Greg Hunter had in the hours between, added noises, effects I knew would be unwanted, and a rebalance uncalled for. He had become a liability to me, as now Warner were clocking his over times. I could not get rid of him as I didn’t know another great engineer in L.A. I would never use him again. These unexpected invasions add a colour I would have preferred had not happened, as these were not the only times he tried to unravel the job.

 Zig Gron (my Music Editor)  on the other hand, a man I did not know previously was my guardian angel. He walked me through all of the landmines, I asked him to teach me all he could, and I was in a 100 milesper hour world on information upload. Zig was funny, informative and such a bloody relief to have near me. God save Zig Gron and all who sail around him.

Q: The Soundtrack you composed for the “Brave Story”-animation film (2006) must have been something really special. For the very first time you composed the entire Soundtrack and here again I discovered some new aspects like the song “Juno Waltz”. How did you prepare and finally composed this work? 

Ben: This was composed under my name Ben Watkins rather than Juno Reactor. I had done another one, like “Beowulf”. I asked them why they wanted me to write for mainly orchestra, and they said we would like to hear how it sounds. So I sort of did my impression of ‘a man who knew what he was doing and what they were talking about’. There were a few production problems re-budget, as it wasn’t cheap for an Anime film. Once that was over, it was surprisingly easy, maybe a lot easier than writing for pure Electronics as the orchestra tone is defined by what you want, and once set, you have your pallet of sounds more or less. “Juno Waltz”, funny you mention that one, as it was the one I most feared to write, as again it has been so defined by other writers. I wrote it last, and it just popped out, it was also the one I felt the orchestra liked the most as they would tap their music stands like clapping. 

We recorded the Orchestra and choir in Bratislava, The Bratislavian Symphony Orchestra and a Vienna choir. I remember on the way to the massive radio sound stage all the older ladies at the bus stops had bright blue/purple hair. A hangover from communist times maybe, thought it looked great and definitely a way I wouldn’t mind my hair, like Quintan Crisp on acid.

Q: You also composed music for animation games. Does it need a different approach than for soundtracks? Any preference and/or favorite? 

Ben: “The Mark Of Kri” was a sort of nightmare, in as far as I had to create on each level two hours of non repeating music, on 0.5 MB, which now sounds insane huh. So you have an excitement engine, 0 – 100, fight mode is 50 plus. I had to build the macros to enable this. So deep learning curve, endless nights on the phone to Scott in San Francisco. This is a bit like the early beginning maybe of programs like WWise.com -which is a sampler on Crack, and hold so many possibilities for AI and VR, which makes me really excited for the future of music and sonic displacement for composers. My preference for games is really to write and hand over in stereo or 5.1. 

“PS4 Gran Turismo” -I made special mixes of tracks from the not so soon to be released album “The Mutant Theatre”, I didn’t have much involvement on this as they loved the tracks I presented and it was done.

Thanks of the Galaxy was a scored mobile game. Despite it being for mobile-only, I really enjoyed working with the team in Finland, in which I presented a Sci-fi industrial orchestral score made from orchestra libraries by George Strezov well worth checking out.

www.strezov.net  www.strezov-sampling.com

‘“Navras” Is The Biggest Track I Have Written’

Q: “Labyrinth” (2004), “Gods & Monsters” (2008), “Inside The Reactor” (2011), “The Golden Sun Of The Great East” (2013) and “The Mutant Theatre” (2018) are the studio-albums released after 2000. How would you analyze the evolution of these productions considering items like influences, technology vs. production and new collaborations? 

Ben: “Labyrinth” is “The Matrix”-album, and after the experience of the last track for “The Matrix Revolutions”, “Navras”, I couldn’t write a thing. “Navras” is the biggest track I have written, or been involved in with 120-piece orchestra, 80-piece choir, soloists, percussionists… So for three months after that I was bashing my head against a wall back in the UK. I think mainly as I was still missing the vibe of L.A, the people always around, the buzz. Until “Conquistador” Parts 1 & 2 came to save me along with guitarist Eduardo Niebla. I was mainly working very analogue, real drums, humans playing, and I still do, but now I am 75% out of the box and 25% in the box. Loads of new software have enabled me to make it more expansive. 

“Gods & Monsters”-I wanted it less epic than “Labyrinth”, write some songs that spoke to me at the time, and try a sort of Jazzy feel to some of it. Not very popular with the Juno Reactor dance crowd at the time, I still love certain tracks. A lot of artists musicians feel constrained by the genre they are in, main thing to me is to stand by what you write, and try it, it ain’t going to kill you. 

One track for example, “Tanta Pena” from “Gods & Monsters” -I was driving to the studio at Ridge Farm when a voice came on the BBC world music show, I had to stop and listen. A cross between a butterfly and a thunderstorm, it took the wind out of my lungs. As soon as the song was over I rang the station and asked who it was. Yasmin Levy! I contacted her husband who was also her agent/manager and asked if she would be interested in recording with me. 

Yasmin and the manager arrived on a beautiful Summer’s day. Ridge Farm is in the Surrey countryside, an Elizabethan Estate with grounds, a swimming pool, beautifully landscaped gardens, all made possible by Frank Andrews never-ending building work on his estate. 

I had moved into Ridge Farm after “The Matrix” films when I heard the studio on the estate was laying bare. I was able to bring my equipment and use one of Englands classic studio’s. Muse, Queen, Ozzie Osbourne and so many more had recorded here… 

Yasmin was shy, and maybe only 20yrs old when she visited the farm. I played her my idea’s, talked a little, not much really and went into record! With one take it was done on both tracks, no need to do any more, she had nailed it! It is quite amazing when this happens, like Lakshmi Shankar on “Navras”. 

I carried on working the track to bring it to her level, with an amazing Zook player from Arminia, Tigran Aleksanyan with the merciless drumming of Greg Ellis, who, when I started working with him in the studio, sounded a bit like a session player. His appearance was that of a typical tattoed L.A drummer, calm, spiritually balanced in appearance -and a very amiable personality.

I asked Greg to let his rage out for this track, really hit those fuckers! I unleashed a beast, a monster, his whole countenance changed, Fire and brimstone drumming, an apocalypse of anger and frustration came out! Drum skins didn’t last long, an inverted blister would appear on the snare within one take! Greg loved this approach, which you can also hear on “The Immaculate Crucifixion”. After this, “Tanta Pena” was complete. 

The original song dates back to the time when the Spanish ejected the Jewish population or made them convert to Christianity around 1492. It is sung in Ladino by Yasmin Levy whose father was a famous archivist of Ladino music, “No More Blood” –“Tanta Pena”.

 “Golden Sun Of The Great East” -I went to India to record a lot of the soloists, and this opened up my world to new horizons, as I found Bombay very “Blade Runner”-ish, ancient and modern all running parallel, crazy, mad, tragic and beautiful. 

Magical things happen, even when you are not looking, I was on a day trip around the studio’s of Mumbai with a potential agent for me in India. We entered a black and gold studio, very camp, I would expect Freddie Mercury of Queen to pop out and say ‘Hello darlings, welcome to my fuck fest!’ instead it was a wonderful Panjabi singer being recorded for a film. Our next appointment was with the Mozart of Indian film music, A R Rahmen. Excited I jumped in the taxi, horns blaring, rain falling, a bright night journey. Next to me in the taxi was the Panjabi singer, ‘Hey can you sing me a song into my zoom recorder, as we wait for my agent to say his goodbyes’. 4 minutes later, a song that never varied off its pitch, was in my data control. Leaving out the A R Rahmen meeting as it was nice, but nothing special, I returned to the hotel where eagles would fly high above in the morning light, I listened back, to the Mumbai traffic and the voice of a celestial being. I started writing “Invisible”, the second track on the album.

“The Mutant Theatre” was written for the show -a Sci-Fi extravaganza where choreographed performance really took over the direction. 

For me, the last two albums speak to me how I want to hear them, and possibly my favourite albums.

“The Mutant Theatre” was designed as a show album. In 2015 I was asked by the Ozora Festival to come back the next year with a new show, I had thought of a show to be called “The Mutant Theatre” 5 years before when in Russia and working with two amazing Performance groups, Agnivo, from Moscow, and Stigma Show from St.Petersburg. I presented this idea in pictures to Ozora, which they loved. It was expensive as it involved around 18 people.

Eyal Yankovich had been my agent for 5 years or so, also the head of Hommega Records. He was an OK agent, getting me the occasional gig or tour, what he was really good at was igniting my imagination with tunes, and suggest I listen to many great tracks, ‘How about a new “Pistolero” Ben?’

Eyal Hung himself before he could listen to the final “Return Of The Pistolero”-version or the album, which still a saddens me.

 Sanja Music, our tour manager, started to really help me, not only from a business perspective, but also from a listening view point. Despite being unable to discuss in a musical language, she would always hit it on the head, find a way to describe the best versions, enthusiasm, insights, referenced insights how fans can view it, how it might work on stage. Spend hours discussing and evolving ideas. I met Sanja many years before in Slovenia when we were playing with Laibach. A tall shiny girl in Japanese fashion appeared solo waiting for the doors to open, a Sugizo fan I believed. We stayed in contact through Myspace and later meeting up in Japan when I was having tours there. She came to the 2015 Ozora Festival and I’ve asked her to photograph Juno Reactor. After we went to Budapest to sight see the city, when I realised what a great addition she would me to Juno Reactor, little did I know how central to my thinking and the project she would become.

‘I Want To Give Something To The Audience That They Might Not Have Seen Before’

Q: You’ve always worked and composed your albums with guest musicians and –singers while going on tour with dance companies, drummers ao. It all feels a bit like the initial goal of creating a ‘collective’ has never changed. What did you learn from all these meetings, collaborations and exchanges? 

Ben: I want to give something to the audience that they might not have seen before. Maybe this goes back to my days of loving David Bowie, and his great performances, always looking for a new way. I feel a sense of family when we are on the road, not always possible with some people, but when it is good it is great. I am still learning how best to be, and how to navigate the waters of human interaction. I feel most comfortable in my studio along with all the other me’s talking.

Q: Your brother Simon Watkins has been often involved in the artwork of Juno Reactor. It all looks like arts is a family thing. Where does it come from and is there a next Watkins generation to hold on this artistic fire? 

Ben: Simon, my brother, helped me focus on art and how to look at it. He always had an unusual taste, a black comedy in his work that I loved. My parents were actors, and despite we were a family of 5 kids, and totally squint, I have no clue why our blood directs us to the arts, as it would be much simpler if we had just wanted a normal life. My parents gave up on their careers too early I always felt, and so I have to live with the musical sword in my hand.

Django, my younger son, is at film university learning the art of script writing and direction, Tim, my older son, is a great musician and records tracks I love. Scarlet and her friend wrote a track for a Japanese singer that was pretty successful. Scarlet at one time wanted to take over Juno Reactor, maybe she still does who knows, but she has chose marine photography for now.

‘AI, VR & AR Have So Much Potential For Young Musicians To Escape The Old Models Of Creation And Start A New Chapter In Music’

Q: A lot of things have changed/evolved since the early Juno Reactor years; think about technology, new equipment & music programs, streaming, social media etc… What have been the pros and cons? 

Ben: I started out on an MC 202 and now I have a museum, a laboratory, loads of instruments that I play. I miss the hangouts in the studio, as everyone has a studio, so we became moles. I love the independence of starting a Juno Reactor label, which I and Sanja Karin Music, who is my manager and for a number of years has also collaborated on artwork, future NFTs on knownorigin.io and other platforms, and a variety of creative projects and activities, which we will be rolling out in the coming year.

The new possibilities of NFT’s and blockchain, which might well help the independent musician into a new economic model. AI, VR & AR have so much potential for young musicians to escape the old models of creation and start a new chapter in music, independent from middlemen and greedy manipulators from the dark alleys of the old music industry. A new world awaits in the decade to come, and I am excited by it, and what it will become. This doesn’t in any way exclude the old ways, or purity of the orchestra, classical musicians, just a new voice in the galaxy.

Q: Covid-19 has seriously affected artistic activities all over the world. How did you keep yourself busy and what are you actually working on? 

Ben: I am learning the Viola, this has kept me in focus at times, writing new tracks with this has been very enjoyable, as well as testing, as I am still learning, and it will take me a long time to play the way I would like. I swim in the sea, this I love when I can afford the time -a sea swim now takes me about 2:30 hours compared to the pool of 1 hour. It blows all the cobwebs and bad thoughts away -of which there have been many through the past year, no question. I think a lot of artists had a very hard time, a lot of artists might have been forced to stop doing what they love, which is very sad. Like many others as well, I have been forced to look into the paperwork side of the project and face all the different misdemeanours and manipulations from a number of people I preferred not to face while gigs were still bringing in enough money to keep going.

‘Sooner Or Later An Autobiography Could Certainly Happen’

Q: I read in a post you got the idea to write an autobiography, which I think is a real interesting idea. Is it something concrete and are there some next ‘big’ dreams you want to accomplish?  

Ben: Well, it is odd, as I have lived long enough to tell stories other people find interesting, or so they say. Sometimes I get caught up in them, and it reminds me of talking to family members before they died. As you can ask them a historic question of how life was, and you can see their eyes glaze over as they reminisce as if they are walking the streets and cafes they used to. It is beautiful to see and hear. I don’t want to become a broken record and recite story after story, so maybe one time if I can write it OK, it might be interesting. My manager Sanja has been pushing me to write down or talk about times in my life and slowly collect all these to be turned into an entity at some point, so sooner or later an autobiography could certainly happen. It might have been silly of me to suggest I’m writing it on a simple social media travel picture that looked to me like a book cover, but perhaps having the public know and expect it will give me an extra boost to keep working on it, with my managers help, as an dyslexic person I was surprised to find that I’m really enjoying this process.

‘The Older I Get The More I Want To Do Music, Scuba, Swim, And Exploring New Horizons’

Q: An interesting item for the autobiography could be to know what you would have done in life without music? And do you have specific hobbies/passions next to music? 

Ben: I remember one day my father said ‘If you pass this exam, I will buy you a pony’. I tried my best, but still failed, and thus had to grow up pony-less. I wonder what would have happened had I passed the exam. Would I really have gotten a pony? Would I perhaps be in a completely different profession today? I should ring up my dad and ask if he actually planned to get that pony …

A lot of people through-out my life have mistook my dreamy exterior to think I am lazy, when in fact my brain has never stopped talking, the conversations I have in my mind seem to me to be more interesting than the ones outside, so I can be non responsive, come over as aloof. The reality is I have drifted off into my own world again. Where I might think I have answered a question asked by someone, just to realise it was only answered in my head. Dyslexia has strange traits, and for me it is this, I am word blinded sometimes that also raises my pulse to a train, panic. I envy people who can be logical, and competent in social exchanges. Stage is my way out, a sort of nether world between reality and dreams where I feel confident of its power.

Without music, I would be a shadow, maybe worked in a stable or farm all my life, something that didn’t need a searching brain. The older I get the more I want to do music, scuba, swim, and exploring new horizons.

Q: “Pistolero” is the Juno Reactor-song I make people listen to, who aren’t familiar with your work. Which one would you choose? 

Ben: At the moment, Ummm my latest one: “Coyote You Me And The Stars”. As it was written for a very special moment and one I will forever remember. I bought an amazing keyboard at the beginning of the crisis, which has been my main frame and primary sound source, the Quantum keyboard by Waldorf, it is such an unusual instrument. It is possible to create sonic textures I haven’t heard before, a 3D motion I have been looking for, this along with the viola.

I am more interested in how I can hold the sound in the stereo field to give depth and spatial pleasures. Political events don’t usually invade my thoughts yet this has been unavoidable.

Witten by: Ben Watkins

Co-editor: Sanja Karin Music (management & shrink services)

Side-Line also covered Juno Reactor’s ‘Let The Flowers Grow’.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Electronic artist Black Plastic announces his new album “Club Grotesque” on Cleopatra Records. The release is the follow-up on his self titled debut album, “Black Plastic”. Founded by renowned graphic designer Kevin Grady, Black Plastic presents dark electronics that you could label as dark techno.

“Club Grotesque” also features several others musicians. Synthpop artist André Obin for instance, lends his vocals to the song, and first single “Bite” while Richard Butler of Psychedelic Furs is the guest vocalist on the song “Acid Rain” which also features samples from Robert Calvert of Hawkwind. Jason Corbett of the post-punk act Actors, produces the song “Sucker” and lends his guitar work to the track. He also remixed the track “Savage” on the album. Lastly, Casey Desmond produced and played on multiple tracks on the album.

Kevin Grady: “Club Grotesque” grew out of a genuine sense of darkness and dread in what has been one of the hardest years we’ve experienced. Because of that, we doubled down on the beats—sometimes all you can do is dance it all out, even if it’s by yourself in your bedroom. It’s not goth, but it’s definitely dance music for vampires.”

“Club Grotesque” will be released April 16th on Cleopatra Records. It will be available on a limited edition purple vinyl as well as CD and digitally world wide. The first – excellent – single “Bite” is out now and can be heard below.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

André Matthes and Thomas Niedballa started their music activities in 2001. A few years later they singed to HANDS and started to release heavy Industrial & Experimental productions under the HEIMSTATT YIPOTASH moniker. The new work “Brankmanship” is their first new album in six years, but also a work revealing a more sophisticated sound mixing Industrial, Rhythmic-Noise, Experimental and Industrial-Techno. I experienced the work as the fusion between power, melody and intelligence. Both artists had a lot to say about their work.

(by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: “Brinkmanship” is your first new album in six years! How does it feel to have released this new work after such a long time and why did it take that long?

André: I’m surprised myself that there’s such a long time  between the two albums. The selective sense of time is sometimes very relative, I don’t feel that the time span since our last release “Mecanismos De Control” is that long. Nevertheless, six years is of course a long time in which a lot has happened, both in the small private sphere and on a global scale.

After “Mecanismos De Control”, which dealt in the broadest sense with the financial crisis in 2008 and the actions of the responsible actors behind it, we worked together with Mike Erkau (The_Empath) on our joint project Trackologists. The work on Trackologists’ debut album “No Surrender, No Retreat” proved to be very fruitful, inspiring but also time-consuming, so there was space for new HEIMSTATT YIPOTASH ideas during this time. It then took some time until we had enough material for new songs, and above all a unifying idea on the theme, a guide that should connect the tracks on the album.

We like to give our albums a story in which the songs are embedded and refer to each other. Storytelling is already important in our way of working, perhaps it also explains the longer intervals between our releases. In the early summer of last year we had all the songs ready, the tracklist was fixed and an intensive phase of fine-tuning followed. I listened to every song and the album almost every day for eight weeks and made some changes. It is really difficult for me to accept the track as finished and release it for mastering. That’s when the control freak in me comes through. Terrible 😉 Thomas does it a more Punk-style. Boarded up and good. Then I come and start to make some changes. But that’s only good up to a certain point, because at some point it gets smoother and more pleasing but not really better.

HEIMSTATT YIPOTASH has always stood for a certain amount of unspoken joy in experimentation, and of course I don’t want to and should not optimize it to the max. At the end of 2019 the master was finished and we were very proud to be part of it, I think I can speak for both of us. The album shows so many different facets and yet, in my opinion, never loses the red thread. It is an astonishing further development to its six years older predecessor, especially when you listen to both of them one after the other. Now, a good year after the completion of our songs, I can say for myself that I can still get excited about the titles, despite listening to them umpteen times. 🙂

Thomas: I feel like André: the previous album “Mecanismos De Control” is somehow still present and doesn’t seem so far away. However, after that album there was a bit of ‘air out’ and we concentrated on the joint project Trackologists with Mike. During this joint work we were able to benefit from Mike’s knowledge for our own composition and production process. Thanks to this input, we then invested much more time than before in the current album “Brinkmanship” to compose and produce the tracks as cleanly as possible without losing sight of the worn edges.

Q: That’s maybe why I experienced this new album as your most diversified production ever; a true mix between different influences. How do you explain the evolution from the early, rough Industrial productions till “Brinkmanship”?

André: I think the driving force behind our work is experimenting with our possibilities. Personally I was inspired by Rhythm Noise and related styles. Especially by the fact that you suddenly got the chance to become creative yourself. That was in the mid-nineties. Until then I was rather an enthusiastic consumer. Records and concerts -I took everything that excited me, and that was always very comprehensive. Whether AlternativRock, Grunge, Punk or Avant-Garde, EBM, DarWave, Rhythm Noise -I could and still can get enthusiastic about many styles.

That was my input, and has remained so to this day, with some small cutbacks. For every time and for every situation there is the right music for me. So at some point I started to become creative myself, using pickups and microphones to shape and record noises and soundscapes. In addition, I had the possibility to merge the whole thing together using simple PC tracker programs and thus record my first (mostly very repetitive) songs. In this phase I found a like-minded person in Thomas and from then on we complemented each other in initially still separate projects. In the following time we self-released some CDRs, which we mostly distributed to friends and acquaintances and played a handful of concerts in small clubs. Our equipment at that time consisted of two PCs including tube monitors, pickups and lots of stuff. At some point we were actually allowed to play at the “Maschinenfest 2004”, and so we joined the HANDS label there.

Label boss Udo Wiessmann offered us to release an album on HANDS. It was a huge thing for us, it was incredibly inspiring and expanded our possibilities enormously. From this time on we officially called ourselves Heimstatt Yipotash, in reference to the previous solo-projects. With the years and every further release the learning curve in what we did and how we made music increased. In addition to the initially dominant intuition and joy of experimenting, we also gained a growing understanding of songwriting. In principle, we taught ourselves to make music over time, we are the absolute autodidacts 🙂 And -as mentioned at the beginning, we experiment with the respective possibilities we have.

Thomas: Since the beginning of our musical journey together, we have loved jumping between drawers and playing with listeners’ expectations. We actually always do what we want to do and do not look for disco suitability or the satisfaction of listening habits or expectations. But at the same time we don’t turn a song around until it absolutely sounds “especially creative and different”. We are insanely happy that Udo has always allowed us this creative freedom and that we can release our albums on the HANDS label without ‘censorship’ or ‘creative guidelines’.

The songs of the first albums sound for us now, with the distance of the years, both from the composition rather ‘simple’ and low-fi. Also some of our own musical preferences are shifting, which is reflected in the current songs. You find  more influences from IDM and other ‘song based’-styles than the more dominant Rhythm Noise of the earlier years. More stringency in sound and less jumping between genres could possibly be helpful to be more successful. But that has never been our motivation to make music. We want to entertain, but at the same time we want to encourage people to think, do research and also to exchange ideas. All the albums we have recorded so far reflect our view of society, the world and our environment at the time.

Q: Can you tell us a bit more about the writing and production process of the new songs? And what makes the chemistry between you both?

André: The driving force for each of our albums is usually to tell a story. The narrative element is already strongly pronounced. In the case of the debut “Storegga Effect”, for example, it was the cyclical sequence of major natural events with mass extinctions and the subsequent renewal or regeneration of the biosphere. The most narratively dense work to date, “Urban Night Motifs”, was a dystopian plunge through a dark, dirty and violent metropolis at night. We wanted to achieve a similarly dense atmosphere again on our current album, because I still like the soundtrack-like gloomy atmosphere very much.

The content of our songs is always close to the problems of the world and we have often addressed them. Also this time we created many songs that take a stand on global problems, so like new catchwords like genetic engineering, artificial intelligence, data surveillance or old scourges like war, corruption and abuse of power. Originally the album should be called “Tribunal” and it should be a kind of condemnation of the conditions. From today’s point of view, it seems to me to be richly bold and naively superficial. We had already taken this direction somewhat with “Mecanismos De Control” and we didn’t really want to go on further like this. We changed the context and formed the songs into a kind of taking status of the world today (“Artificial Ego”, “Fix, Find, Finish”, “Belt To Blender”). We contrasted this with our personal feelings, anger and powerlessness (“Progress”, “At the Edge Of Words”) and the desire to escape this mad world (“Step Into The Void”, “Separation”, “Trigger”).

Seen in this light, the current album is less combative than the previous one, but rather pessimistically resigned. Perhaps it results from the realization that no matter what happens, no matter how bad the disasters and wars will be, people still rarely learn from mistakes, and that in the end the predator prevails. Our way of working is usually to sit together (usually in Thomas’ arbor), connect our equipment and just jam away. Sometimes the first ideas come up, sometimes we just do sound exploration and fill our sample memory. The resulting song sketches are then moved back and forth a couple of times, and at some point the individual track develops its own character, which is then worked out. It’s not that we set ourselves a concept and then work it out, it all starts intuitively, almost like jazz from the gut. 🙂 If the track comes to life, it gets a name and is then shaped in the desired direction. When you finally compare the sketches and the finished track, you are amazed and get the impression that the song has a life of its own and we are just the obstetricians. It has always been like that, and I think that’s what makes up the way we work.

Thomas: Instead of the rehearsals and jam sessions that are usual with ‘classic’ bands, we have now established a well-functioning ping-pong method for us: if not out of jam sessions together, relatively many sketches are first created at my place. These are partly loops of only 10 seconds, but can also be rough song structures of three minutes. André takes over these beginnings and works on them with his own preferences and moods. This gives the sketches a completely new dynamic and complexity, which you often can’t even think of when you tinker with them alone. The nice thing about our joint work on songs is that nobody has a special role as ‘songwriter’ or ‘drummer’ or similar, but the songs can always develop without ‘selfish’ wishes or preferences. Neither of us has the claim to put more songs than the other on an album or to always have to listen to our own samples in the finished song. There are tracks that completely change their sound several times during their creation.

The possibilities of working with, in our case, Ableton Live are simply indescribably beneficial here. For us, it is amazing how the songs on the albums ultimately come together to form a harmonious product, without us planning it that way from the beginning. All our albums had a common thread, which we often only found during the ongoing creation process, without having to ‘bend’ the songs.

On “Storegga Effect” the mutual influences of environment and human beings on each other were the main theme. “Perpetual Beta” focused more on the mechanization of the world and the anonymization of the individual in society, but also on the simultaneous (self-zchosen) revelation of very private things, for example on the internet. “Urban Night Motifs” highlighted a modern and realistic, but also dystopian metropolis in the current time: psychological problems, pressure to perform, pollution of the environment, social injustice and increasing loneliness of people were the topics. “Mecanismos De Control” extracted this view on a political / social level, whereby we chose the situation in Argentina in 2001 as the main theme. “Brinkmanship” could now be interpreted as a once again ‘zoomed up’ view of the whole world politics and its influence on each and every one of us.

Q: “Brinkmanship” indeed appears to be a critical reflection about the world we’re living in. What’s your perception about the latest news events like the Covid-19 pandemic, the presidential election in the USA ao?

André: “Brinkmanship” is indeed a critical examination of the state of the world. The term means as much as the politics of absolute risk, the planning of one’s own destruction, the play with fire. There are many political examples, the policy of nuclear deterrence during the Cold War is only one of them. Even today, the term can be applied to many aspects. We have tried to cover some of the topics on the album, even if many things are missing (climate change, environmental destruction, etc.) There are many questions that most people are reluctant to ask, because the answers might question their way of living. Will artificial intelligence dominate us one day? Will we become slaves of omniscient networks and algorithms? How dangerous is genetic engineering? And is it ethically acceptable? What do animal experiments and factory farming and the perversities associated with them say about our humanity? These and countless other questions, some of them more or less philosophical, occupy our minds and are a recurring theme in our songs.

Much of this can be discussed controversially, and I too have no productive answers to many of them. Nevertheless it is important to ask these questions and to deal with them. Because if you don’t face it, you are much more receptive to ‘strong men with simple solutions’, which brings us back to the actual topic. The multitude of questions seems to overwhelm a large part of the people intellectually, there is no other way to explain, for example, a President Trump, Erdogan or Putin. In my view, Trump is one of the most stupid and incompetent people you can imagine at the head of such an influential superpower. But Trump is for me not the cause, but rather the symptom of a certain social and societal degeneration that can be observed throughout the Western world.

The most pressing current issue is the Covid-19 pandemic. The exceptional situation in which we are currently living is magnifying the acute social upheavals like under a burning glass and is a test of character for each individual. Whether and how measures to contain the infection will be effective will only be known when it is history, because much of it cannot yet be assessed. It is therefore easy to condemn decisions in retrospect and to know everything better. As a realist, I see the situation, recognize possible risks and try to avoid them without hysteria. In my opinion, it would sometimes be helpful for many people if they could look at things more soberly, abstractly and then stick to the facts. That way, prophets and conspiracy theorists of all colors would have less of an audience.

Q: Because of Covid-19 artists can’t no longer play live, which must be frustrating when you’ve a new album out. How do you try to face the situation and what do you expect from artistic activities during the next few months?

André: Of course this is extremely frustrating for us! Originally “Brinkmanship” was supposed to be presented at the “Elektroanschlag” festival or at the “Forms of Hands” and we had prepared some limited bundles with iron-on patches and stickers for the record release. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic and the restrictions, all this became obsolete. The release date was postponed to August, and unfortunately we had no chance to present the album live until now. And it’s through concerts that you can reach a larger audience. As far as that is concerned, we really fell victim to a bad time.

But it’s not just us! Much worse affected are artists who have to live from their art, who depend on the income. As far as that is concerned, we are well off as ‘amateurs’ and too much complaining would be somehow indecent. Well, what the future will bring, we will see. Maybe we will try ourselves as street musicians 😉 At the moment, it’s mid-October, the infection numbers are rising again and I don’t believe in a return of the festivals soon. What this means for the whole music industry, promoters and labels cannot yet be estimated, but the coming period will certainly not be easy. Many are acutely threatened in their existence. That is something you should bear in mind! Therefore: ‘Support your artists! Support your label!’

Thomas: Yes, it makes us sad not to be able to present the new material live and experience the feedback of the audience. But in the current situation we have the big advantage over musicians who have to earn their living by performing, that we both have regular jobs and therefore the band has been a pure hobby project from the beginning and doesn’t have to feed families. So we see the situation as very uncomfortable for us, but for the whole music industry, especially the independent labels and concert operators, with far greater concern and fear for the future of the many employees and enthusiasts.

We house label HANDS are also severely affected by cancelled concerts and closed clubs. This is the best way for each of us to help: Buy CDs and merchandise directly from the small, fine labels!

Q: Next to HEIMSTATT YIPOTASH you’ve been also involved with other projects. What can you express and maybe exorcize in these other projects –like TRACKOLOGISTS, and do you plan new releases?

André: I am cautiously optimistic when I say that there will be a sign of life from TRACKOLOGISTS in the near future. Optimistic, because all three of us have a great desire for it and already have concrete ideas for a release; cautious, because all three of us are involved in other projects and therefore many things simply go slower and need more time. It will probably be like with the first and so far unfortunately only TRACKOLOGISTS album: we will set ourselves a lot of goals, we will meet several deadlines and still get it finished. 🙂

Thomas: I think the chances of an upcoming release of the TRACKOLOGISTS are good. We love the project and the slightly different development process than at HYMSTATT YIPOTASH. TRACKOLOGISTS songs are much closer to the EBM and IDM than our own tracks, but working with Mike enriches our own way of working immensely as we benefit from his knowledge and set the bar high ourselves. Whether there will be another masterpiece of “No Go!” depends mainly on the simultaneous availability of (too) much time, extremely obscure sample collections and large amounts of alcoholic beverages…

André: Thanks for your questions and hopefully see you soon live!

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Canadian post-punk foursome Actors recently announced their sophomore album, “Acts of Worship”, set for release in 2021. Ahead of the release, the band has now released their first new music in the form of the Halloween-friendly single “Love U More”. You can watch the video below.

The track was produced, mixed and mastered by lead Actor Jason Corbett at his Jacknife Sound studio, the track is just a taste of what is to come on the album. The video itself was directed by Peter Ricq.

Vancouver post-punk outfit Actors released its debut, “It Will Come to You”, in 2018 on the Toronto-based Artoffact Records. The band spent the following 18 months touring the USA, Canada, and Europe including Terminus Festival, Wave-Gotik-Treffen, Cold Waves, Infest, A Murder of Crows, and others.

But here’s the new video to start with.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

The LA based darkwave band Ashrr, who released their debut record “Oscillator” last year, has picked up where they left off with the release of the new single titled “Waves” that is accompanied by a video that was directed, shot and edited by Keith Musil (Twin Shadow, Grizfolk, Tennis).

“Since our formation, Ashrr’s sound has been in a constant state of flux as we continually draw inspiration from the creative forces that surround us. Our musical journey led us to a style that explores elements of sound from across the spectrum of rock, from adrenaline fueled post-punk and brooding dark wave to futuristic analog synth and primal guitar driven rock, with all roads leading to our new single ‘Waves'”, says the band.

You can check out the video right below.

Keith Musil: “The idea for this video came about because of COVID restrictions and a reaction to the social movements brewing at the time. We needed a concept that didn’t require a lot of actors and would be something I could produce, shoot and edit on my own. Originally, I wanted to document the journey of an inanimate object similar to “The Red Balloon.” What struck me most about that short film is how much you feel for the balloon. Our intention was to do just that but with a .31cent goldfish.”

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

(Photo by Katrin Albert) The New York City based act post-punk band Bootblacks have released a new single, “Nostalgia Void”. The song appears on the upcoming Artoffact Records album “Thin Skies”, to be released October 23rd.

About the new single, Bootblacks vocalist Panther Almqvist states: “The person we were in the past often seems unrecognizable. Memories can often seem like scenes from another person’s life. There are moments however when we see ourselves in the present and that we realize that we are summation of the experiences of the past and maybe we haven’t changed as much as we think we have.”

Check out the single below.

“Thin Skies”, Bootblacks’ first album for Artoffact Records, was produced by Jason Corbett of Artoffact labelmates Actors.

Bootblacks The band consists of Panther Almqvist (vocals), Alli Gorman (guitar), Barrett Hiatt (synth) and Larry Gorman (drums). The band has toured North America and Europe, most recently being handpicked by Modern English as direct support for a 2020 North American tour (currently postponed).

So far they released 3 albums: “Fragments” (2017, Manic Depression Records), “Veins” (2016, self-released) and “Narrowed” (2012, self-released).

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Following a handful of formative sessions with prolific drummer/producer Jim Sclavunos (Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, Sonic Youth), the Brooklyn-based Bootblacks released its first EP “Narrowed” in the fall of 2012. The debut full-length eVeinse came next in 2016 and was backed by extensive touring. 2017’s “Fragments” found the band expanding to a more synth-heavy sound.

Out on October 9th on Artoffact Records is the new album release of “Thin Skies” by Bootblacks. With “Thin Skies”, the band’s first album for Artoffact Records, they continue where “Fragments” left off. The whole was produced by Jason Corbett of Artoffact labelmates Actors with backing vocals courtesy of Shannon Hemmett (Actors) and Kennedy Ashlyn (SRSQ, Them Are Us Too).

You can stream the new track “Traveling Light” right below and pre-order the album right here on Bandcamp in various formats.

Bernard - Side-Line Staff

Chief editor of Side-Line – which basically means I spend my days wading through a relentless flood of press releases from labels, artists, DJs, and zealous correspondents. My job? Strip out the promo nonsense, verify what’s actually real, and decide which stories make the cut and which get tossed into the digital void. Outside the news filter bubble, I’m all in for quality sushi and helping raise funds for Ukraine’s ongoing fight against the modern-day axis of evil. Besides music I’m also an SEO and AI content flow specialist and have an interest in everything finance from stocks to crypto. There is music in everything!

side-line.com

Genre/Influences: Gothic, wave-pop.

Format: Digital.

Background/Info: Ronny Moorings is back on track unleashing a new EP from his Clan Of Xymox band. “Lovers” features the title song plus three remixes and an updated version of the ‘old’ song “Going Round”. 

Content: “Lovers” is dark, but catchy song driven with an elevating chorus. Remixes have been accomplished by Hante, Actors and Selofan. “Going Round 2020” is easily recognizable, remaining a cool retro cut for the dancefloors.

+ + + : There’s an interesting duality on this EP. “Lovers” is the right title track for an EP because of its catchy touch and solid, melodic chorus. “Going Round 2020” is definitely old-styled, but still danceable. It also has a great sensual touch on top. Both songs have been composed in different decades, and are clearly revealing atmospheres, but both are danceable! Among the remixes I especially want to mention the great job accomplished by Hante. This remix makes me think of an imaginary dungeon of love and pain… Hante transposed the original edit into something completely different, and I t’s an impressive work.

– – – : I expected a bit more out of the Actors and especially Selofan (which is a band I particularly like for their retro-style).

Conclusion: “Lovers” maybe isn’t the darkest and best song ever composed by Ronny Moorings although it remains a catchy, melancholic piece.

Best songs: “Lovers – Hante. Remix”, “Lovers”, “Going round 2020”.

Rate: (7½).

Artist: www.clanofxymox.com / www.facebook.com/clanofxymox.official

Labels: www.metropolis-records.com / www.facebook.com/MetropolisRecords / www.trisol.de / www.facebook.com/pages/Trisol-Music-Group/104166526285471

About Clan Of Xymox

Clan Of Xymox began in 1983 as Xymox, the project of Ronny Moorings, before evolving into Clan Of Xymox and signing to the British label 4AD, where the band released two albums that became genre touchstones for dark-wave. The band briefly reverted to the Xymox name before settling permanently on Clan Of Xymox from 1997 onward. In an exclusive Side-Line retrospective interview tied to the band’s 18th studio album “Exodus” (2024, Trisol/Metropolis), Moorings looked back across a career spanning more than 40 years. “Lovers” arrived in 2020 with remixes by Hante., Actors and Selofan alongside an updated version of the older song “Going Round”.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Larme Blanche (which can be translated as ‘knife’ or ‘rudimentary weapon’) is a brand-new project driven by an artist wearing a mask and keeping his name secret. He claims his music is more important than his face and even the label, Unknown Pleasures Records, where he released his debut album “Demain Est Mort” doesn’t know his identity. But music indeed is more important than faces and the minimal-electro composed by this artist is absolutely worthy of examination. All songs are sung in French mainly revealing critical and political subjects recovered with obscure and gloomy atmospheres plus danceable sequences. This album took me by surprise and incited me to get in touch with the man with the mask…

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You don’t want to reveal your identity, so what fascinates you working anonymously? Or is it just a strategy to keep people busy to guess who’s hiding under the mask you’re wearing? How did you get interested in electronic music to finally set up Larme Blanche?

LB:My identity is not important, but the music is. Wearing a mask (a balaclava, precisely) is not a strategy, or a marketing shit. I’ve read a lot about the symbols of the mask, and I think hiding my face and my own identity is a way for me to be truly myself. I can say whatever I want, without any filters or any fears to be judged. Hiding is for me artistic freedom.

Honestly, playing electronic music is not a choice. It’s just the best set up if you’re alone in a musical project. With my synths and drum machines, I can play nearly everything by myself. I just sometimes need the help of true musicians to reach a higher level, like Quentin Dubarry, who plays saxophone on the song “Overdose d’Épicure”, or my friend Fred that mixed and mastered my music.

Q: What was your initial purpose when starting this project? Did you have specific ideas/criteria in mind about sound, influences, equipment, ao?

LB: At the very beginning, my purpose was to make a lot of noise. At the time, I wanted to play with the industrial/noise codes and techno music. At first, I thought the project will be fully instrumental, no voice. Probably because I like cinematic music. But life is full of surprises, right ? One day, I put my voice on the song “Paris La Nuit”, and I thought it sounded very cool. So in the end, I decided to focus more on the vocals and lyrics.

About the influences, I would say Suicide, Chris & Cosey, Throbbing Gristle, D.A.F., Death In June and a lot of French wave, from Taxi Girl to Etienne Daho. The movies of Gaspar Noé also had a big impact on me.

Q: What’s your main focus when you compose a song and what are the different stages you’ve to go through to achieve a song –and an album?

LB: I don’t have a formula. I can start with a sound, a beat, a synth bass line, sometimes with a sample… It really depends of my mood. Usually I mess around with sounds for hours, and I see how far it goes. I have hundreds of little loops in my archives. The most difficult thing is picking the good ones and turn them into a ‘real’ song. Usually, I pick the ones that inspire me vocally, or the ones that sound weird.

About the lyrics, I like to write down ideas when it comes, wherever I am. Sometimes when I walk in the street, sometimes in the train… So as soon as I have a good instrumental music, I just have to read my notes again and find the idea that fits the best with the track.

Q: All songs have been sung in French while the lyrical content appears to be engaged, critical, political, sensual, sometimes featuring historical samplings (cf. “Le Dernier Soupir”), dark and into poetry. Tell us a bit more about this essential element of the album and your project?

LB: Singing in French is at the core of this project and it will never change (except for covers, like the one of Death In June that I just released). When you play rock’n’roll, it’s easy to sing in English, because it works well with gimmicks. But I think French language work better with electronic music. It’s important for me to sing in my native language, because it forces me to work harder and deeper on the words. Believe me, writing those lyrics was a long process, way longer than the music!

I may hide behind a mask, but lyrically I’m naked here. I don’t know if this record is engaged, but it’s critical and political for sure. A song like “Assez!” was inspired by the yellow jacket movement that happened in France last year. I’ve seen far-right and far-left people crushing my country to the bone, and it made me sick. As a result, I wrote this song. I’m also a huge fan of History, as you can hear in “Le Dernier Soupir”. In that song, I wanted to superpose the values of our past heroes (here a speech of André Malraux for the Jean Moulin funerals, he was a famous resistant that fought against the Nazis) to the vacuity of our current heroes. Do the pop stars, starlets, actors and TV reality people deserves to be our heroes? I’d like to make people dance, but I’d like to make them think too.

Q: The title song “Demain Est Mort” is the last –hidden, song from the album. What did you try to express with this title, which also sounds as one of the most enraged songs of the album?

LB: Enraged, that’s a good word to describe it! At first, this song was just a fist in the face. I came back at home one shitty day, after another crack head of Paris insulted me in the street. It’s those kind of days when everything turns bad and when you want to kill everyone. So instead of turning into a mass murderer, I decided to write about that feeling. And it became “Demain Est Mort”, which means “Tomorrow Is Dead”.

It was a cathartic experience, it all happened very quickly. In a way, I wanted to sound like a nihilistic version of this old French punk band called Bérurier Noir.

Q: You released a few clips and it’s interesting to see the contrast in the themes between “Paris La Nuit” (about the French Capital) and “Taiga” (about nature). What did you try to express here?

LB: The message of “Paris La Nuit” is very simple; it’s all about this city that makes me sick every day. Usually, when I travel, all the people I met are always fascinated about Paris, you know with all the clichés: the city of love, so romantic blah blah blah… But I live in a very popular area of the city (where the video was shot) and it’s not glamorous at all. It’s full of crack heads, dealers, gangs, violence… With people literally sleeping on the pavement (as you can see in the video clip). This song is a vision of my Paris, the real Paris, not the one for tourists.

“Taïga” in a way is a response to this urban decay. I wrote that song after a trip in the Canadian taiga last Summer. I felt so good in the nature that I wanted to disappear there, and never come back to the madness of a big city. What’s the point of living in a world like that, were a phone made by a child in China is more important than the wildlife? How absurd is that? I think humanity has lost itself into consumerism and turned into a freaky monster. In those troubled times, nature appear to me as a peaceful shelter.

Q: What are the further plans?

LB: I’ve just released a cover of “Break The Black Ice” by Death In June for the tribute album “Honoris DI6” to be released on Unknown Pleasures Records in June (obviously). I also have an unreleased track called “Amor À Mort” that will be released on the vinyl compilation “My Precious! Vol. 3” (on the Belgian label Red Maze Records). It’s a very weird, erotic track inspired by the EBM of D.A.F. and the sadomasochistic band Athamay. It smells like whip, leather and latex. In June, I’ll also publish an experimental video of a new song called “Le Poing Et La Chaîne”, which I’m very proud of. It was made in confinement and it’s raw and very industrial, with live recordings of percussions played with chains. There is a big work on the sound and I think it can give some clues about the future direction of the project…

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com

Michael Schrader set up Tension Control in 2016. The German project directly moved towards EBM paths reminding some pioneers in the genre. A first album “Im Rhythmus Der Maschinen” got released in 2017 on Brandsatz Records. And a second opus “Fortschritt  Durch Technik” saw the daylight by the end of 2019. The retro-EBM format got a very positive response among the German EBM lovers. Tension Control can be the best introduced by one of the album titles: “Make EBM Great Again”!

(Courtesy by Inferno Sound Diaries)

Q: You’re a rather active artist, involved with different EBM projects. Tell us a bit more about your music background and your input in all the projects/bands?

Michael: Tension Control is my main project. I set up Tension Control in 2016 and it were also my very first steps in producing music. I’ve bought all the stuff including my first synthesizer and started from zero to figure out how it works. This is why you can hear a strong development between the first and the second album.

I have defined the pitch for Tension Control very tightly for myself. No revolutionary innovations when it comes to content or composing. Typical scene subjects and also critical- or reflecting views on current themes with simple danceable synth sequences with analog sound generators. My intention is to keep the old-school EBM alive.

The restrictions do not apply for my new project Michael Matters. The sound is influenced by modern techno music and the instrumental and thematic corridor is open here. The typical non-complex old-school EBM sequences are the connecting element. The first previews will be released in the next weeks and the album will be probably finished until the end of 2020.

Q: You started from zero, but how did you get the idea to set up Tension Control and what’s the main focus when it comes to sound and song composition?

Michael: Since I was listening to electronic music in the early 90s, I had a clear preference how a synth should sound like. A lot of commercial techno music had interesting sequences, but covered with a lot of useless rubbish. During the same period I discovered dark-electronic music, which according to me left the goofiness behind, at least mostly. Aggressive energy was added and from this moment I got infected. But it took many years to make the decision to leave my own footprints in this scene. Let’s see how it sounds when I try to arrange structures by leaving away what distracts me from the important components. I can say that’s not as easy as you might think, but now, with “Fortschritt Durch Technik” I’m getting closer to the matter!

Q: Over now to “Fortschritt Durch Technik”. What have been the main sources of inspiration and eventually criteria and references when it comes to production?

Michael: The second album ‘accomplished itself’ without a concrete concept. For me it was a ‘Fortschritt’ -a ‘progress’,  getting better in working out the sequences as they sound in my mind. Meanwhile I think, a never ending development. How deeper as I get into it, how more demanding I become… While doing that with a second synthesizer now, I processed the things which got be told and what was happening around me. The unimaginable luck I had, was to get on stage with my heroes, DAF! Can you imagine the feeling to get on a stage as singer the second time in your life with the chance to present your own art as support for one of your all time idols? Everything in 2018 and 2019 went in a breathtaking speed for me; I had to process what was happening musically.

Q: And your music reminds me to DAF. The song “DAF Ist Ewig” definitely sounds as an ode to this EBM pioneer so I can imagine you must have been –like many others of us, particularly shocked by the sudden loss of Gabi Delgado. What can you say about this song and the tragic loss of the DAF leader?

Michael: As I just told you, I had the chance to meet Robert Görl and Gabi Delgado in person. Robert’s unique style on the drums has given a direct impulse for this song to me. I put some simple synth sequences on top of it and diversified them in a DAF-untypical way, but wrote a text which is condensed to the minimum in best manner of Gabi.

In my perception, he was very balanced and an introverted, quiet man. But on stage he was totally different, like getting mad and showing his feelings. It’s unforgettable! Yes, I am deeply shocked by this sudden loss. It was much too early in his life. I am almost thankful for all the moments of joy while listening to Robert’s an Gabi’s music, to experience their concerts and for all the inspiration that DAF has given to my art.

Q: Another interesting song and according to me, one of the best from the album is  “Brexit! Implosion Initialised”! Is it something like a political song? What did you want to express here and what have been the other lyrical themes on the album? 

Michael: Many thanks, I’m very glad to hear that! Unfortunately it’s not common to deal with political issues in the EBM scene. But what kind of idiotic attitude is that please? Most people have an opinion. Let’s discuss the arguments and even if they are incompatible it’s a chance to improve our tolerance for ambiguity. “Brexit!” is a song from the first album. This first version paints a picture of Great Britain’s self chosen suicide by leaving the EU. Everything arranged around the core message ‘cause of death suicide – the sun shines on a dying might’. The second version -“Brexit! Implosion Initialised” also puts speech recordings from nearly the same actors around exactly the same core message. But now with a completely different result. It is the EU that is committing suicide by acting like this against its member states.

All lyrics on this album are about love, hate, war, EBM itself or social criticism. In detail or in whole. Everything that has moved me during the last 2 years.

Q: You’re signed on Brandsatz Records, which appears to me as a small label devoted to electro-punk & EBM. Can you introduce the label and do you feel being part of a so-called EBM community?

Michael: Brandsatz Records indeed is a small label, run by a good friend of mine. For Michael Matters I’m looking for a label dealing with more contemporary electronic music. All this organizational tasks around making music annoy me and steal my time and creativity.

Yes, of course I feel being a part of the EBM community! It’s a very familiar scene where you know each other. I’m just worried that younger generations seem to find it hard to access to this kind of music. But life is like this, perhaps the less adapted young people will develop their own electronic punk one day.

Inferno Sound Diaries

I have been working for over 30 years with Side-line as the main reviewer. My taste is eclectic, uncoventional and I prefer to look for the pearls, even if the bands are completely unknown, thus staying loyal to the Side-Line philosophy of nurturing new talents.

www.side-line.com